Increased violence from militia groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo spurred the World Health Organization to pull one-third of its workforce from an Ebola outbreak zone last week, reports Nature.
The organization temporarily evacuated about 40 people from the city of Beni. The remaining 80 team members stationed in the city have mostly halted efforts to trace and vaccinate known contacts of Ebola patients, thereby hindering outbreak containment efforts.
The WHO expects Ebola cases to rise as a result, according to Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the health agency.
As of Nov. 27, the WHO has reported 3,304 confirmed and probable Ebola cases linked to the outbreak, including 2,198 deaths.