Ben is based in South Africa and also works on The Telegraph's Global Health Security team. He spent five years in Kabul covering the Afghanistan war, five years as Defence Correspondent in London, and four years in Islamabad 4:25pm GMT A nurse was killed and a teacher badly injured in a mob attack after being accused of spreading Ebola in the water supply in Congo.

The unnamed victims were set upon in Bafwasende territory of Tshopo province after a group of young people accused them of being responsible for the outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever.

The nurse was killed outright and the teacher, who local media reported was close to the health worker, only survived after being rescued by police.

The World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the attack, which is only the latest incident of health workers being attacked by suspicious, scared or angry locals.

Medical workers have been forced to deal with widespread rumours that the outbreak – the world’s second largest – is spread by them.

Other conspiracy theories claim the outbreak is a money-making hoax for aid agencies, or that foreigners are using it as a pretext to grab the country’s minerals.

Strict rules imposed on how to conduct funerals in order to stop mourners becoming infected, have become another flashpoint.

Last month, a Congolese politician was beaten to death in North Kivu after publicly defending the government’s response.

He had been calling on the public to obey response measures, particularly social distancing and hand washing, on a radio show.

“Everyone working to protect communities from this deadly disease must be able to work in dignity and safety. Healthcare must always be protected,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, after the latest attack.

Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, added: “Misinformation and fear must never fuel violence.”Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recorded more than 9,800 cases including more than 4,700 deaths since the start of the outbreak in May, making it the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country’s history.

The unnamed patient, who is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, tested positive last week after returning from a holiday in Uganda.

Uganda, which says it has not recorded any cases since July, has said the woman previously travelled to DRC, but that has been denied by Swiss authorities.

Nigeria’s health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said the woman’s condition was improving and she was “stable, conscious, communicating, and her clinical laboratory test results closing towards baseline”.

A clinical trial to test several candidate vaccines began late last week in Ituri province, which has been the epicentre of the flare-up.

Prof Jean-Pierre Van geertruyden, principal investigator with the University of Antwerp, said: “During an outbreak, speed and scientific rigour must go hand in hand”.

He said the trial, called Tumaini, which means “hope” in Swahili, “brings together Congolese and international expertise to generate reliable evidence on vaccines against Bundibugyo virus.”Prof Matthew Kavanagh, chair of the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University, said the outbreak was spreading faster than any recorded previously.

He said: “The situation remains out of control and it is clear that we have failed to learn the lessons from the 2014 outbreak. We need a truly global response to halt this outbreak from spiralling.”Aid cuts in the past two years by both Washington and European governments had hampered the response.

He said: “The WHO and the Africa CDC are doing remarkable and important work. But the reduction in aid has led to a reduction in the capacity to launch a coordinated, global response and there seems to be a major gap between funding promised and funding delivered.”