Contagion of conspiracy theories makes Ebola epidemic harder to contain - The Washington Post

False claims and conspiracy theories — including that the outbreak is a hoax or that aid workers brought Ebola to get money — are spreading in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fueling distrust of responders and attacks on health teams. That mistrust is driving refusals of care, obstruction of contact tracing, and violence that make isolation, vaccination, and surveillance far harder. These misinformation dynamics compound existing problems from armed conflict and funding shortfalls and increase the risk of wider regional spread.