Mbandaka – When a young man in his town died of a haemorrhagic fever, Fabien Impanda Boliko had to act fast. The 56-year-old laboratory technician in Mbandaka tested and identified the first case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) 11th Ebola outbreak in the western Equateur province.
The sudden death caused concern among local health officials who raised an alert: perhaps the haemorrhagic fever was Ebola or, maybe it was caused by another disease. Boliko accompanied a rapid response team to obtain a sample and find out.