for in emergency nurseries in the remote east. The nursery in Mongbwalu, a mining town in Ituri province near the Uganda border considered the epicenter of the outbreak, is one of 12 facilities receiving children of Ebola victims. It is supported by UNICEF. Caregiver Marie Bakikula, herself an Ebola survivor, told AFP: "Many children have lost both their father and mother because of Ebola." According to UNICEF, children account for about one-third of deaths and more than one-quarter of infections in the current crisis, which has seen more than 2,000 cases. Nearby the nursery, workers in white protective suits were seen loading a child-sized coffin onto a pickup truck. Surviving orphans arrive traumatized, having watched their parents die and burial teams in protective suits remove bodies. Others were separated after infected parents were transferred to Ebola treatment centers. "They all believe that by coming here they will never see their parents again", said psychologist Monique Ndjangosi. Children stay under observation for 21 days, the incubation period. In the nursery, a girl and three boys whose mothers tested positive played with chlorine-disinfected stuffed toys. One child developed symptoms seven days after arrival and was sent to a treatment center.

Contact with parents is limited to photographs and videos taken by health workers, as visits to treatment centers are too risky. Child protection teams try to find relatives, even distant ones, to take in orphans, but some children are too young to identify, especially when parents arrived in a coma. Provincial child protection head Celine Lusinde says her office has registered 8,200 newly orphaned children since the outbreak began.

One example is 63-year-old nurse Marie-Therese Tsesi, who took in five orphans into her mud-brick home near Mongbwalu hospital after their father, their last surviving parent, died. They had been sleeping outside and malnourished. The DRC's 17th Ebola epidemic is the deadliest ever recorded in the country and remains uncontrolled. Cases have also been detected in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. The virus, which spreads through bodily fluids and causes severe haemorrhagic fever, has infected 9,704 people and killed 4,687 in the DRC, a fatality rate of nearly 50%. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain behind the outbreak, though a clinical trial is under way. Response efforts are hampered by resource shortages and insecurity from armed groups in Ituri, which restricts access. Many deaths outside health facilities are believed to go unreported. (Bssnews)