A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear are sprayed with disinfectant during the evacuation of the body of a suspected Ebola victim

Squeezed onto the back of a motorcycle, clearly exhausted and symptomatic, a young woman arrived at Rwampara hospital, where overwhelmed health workers have found themselves on the front line of a deadly Ebola outbreak.

The town in the violence-hit east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the centres of a recent flare-up in cases of the highly contagious disease, which can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.

Since the current outbreak was detected on May 14, more than 220 suspected deaths and 900 suspected cases have been identified, according to official figures, in what the World Health Organization has declared an international emergency.

Experts suspect the virus was circulating under the radar for some time and that the true extent of the health crisis has yet to be seen.