The race against time to contain Ebola

Near the heart of the spreading Ebola outbreak, young mother Marléne is well aware of the potential danger.

She's brought her two-month-old daughter, Deborah, to be vaccinated at a health facility in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The north-eastern region of Ituri has so far seen more than 100 confirmed cases of the disease, with more in neighbouring North Kivu.

Marléne, whose name has been changed due to the stigma surrounding Ebola, sees the damage the disease can do through images shared online.

"From what we see circulating on phones, we notice the symptoms," she says, speaking to health workers from nonprofit Save the Children.

"People say the disease is transmitted through contact. For example, if I am infected, through sweat my child could also become infected.

"This is what worries us the most — how we can protect our children."

Tensions are running high — according to the World Health Organization, violence against health facilities and community resistance is proving a major barrier to combating the outbreak.

But this is the 17th Ebola outbreak the DRC has faced since 1976. It is not unprepared.

Perth GP Dr Saschveen Singh has been working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 2017, and was on the ground during the last major Ebola virus outbreak in the DRC in 2018-19.

For now, she's based out of the organisation's Paris headquarters, a member of the epidemic response team supporting their emergency response.

Two of her colleagues have already flown out to the front line, and Dr Singh is on call to do the same in coming weeks.

The big problem, she says, is while the outbreak rages on, the "routine" work continues.

"We have to ensure … pregnant women can access important antenatal support, and that they can deliver safely," she says.

"[There are] children and adults with malaria. That is a really rapidly fatal disease … we need to ensure they are diagnosed and treated rapidly so they don't end up in hospital.

"There's still people with tuberculosis, with HIV, with diabetes, they need to be able to access their ongoing drugs.

Efforts to contain the ongoing outbreak are unfolding in what the United Nations called "one of the most volatile" regions of the eastern DRC.

As of May 29, there have been 906 suspected cases, and 223 suspected deaths.

Unlike other Ebola virus outbreaks, this time transmission comes from a rarer form of the disease, known as Bundibugyo virus.

It's spread through bodily fluids, has similar early symptoms to the common cold, and there is no currently approved vaccine.

Health officials on the