'I've never seen anything like this' -- A U.S. doctor treats Ebola's youngest victims

Dr. Rupa Narra shares a before and after photo from Thursday's shift in an Ebola treatment unit in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Narra and her colleagues are limited to about an hour at a time with patients in the unit due to the difficulty and risks of working in protective gear. Courtesy of Dr. Rupa Narra. Diptych by NPR. hide caption

An Ebola treatment unit in the city of Butembo, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has 30 beds. Tonight, they're all full.

"I don't know how this is going to slow down," says Dr. Rupa Narra, a U.S. pediatrician who arrived in August to work for Doctors Without Borders. "It's the most devastating thing I've ever seen in my life."

With at least 6,800 confirmed cases and more than 3,310 deaths since May, the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is on track to be the worst on record. Last week, Narra's unit lost eight patients — all under the age of 5.

The outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain of ebolavirus; which has no approved antiviral medication or vaccine. Without these medical options, about 30% of adults who are diagnosed with the virus die within two weeks. The death rate is even higher for children, whose immune systems are less developed. For newborns, the virus is almost always fatal.

While children have made up 1 in 4 confirmed cases in this outbreak, they represent 1 in overall 3 deaths.

Narra and her colleagues spend their days providing supportive care: running fluids through an IV, giving oxygen or blood transfusions. Treating hypothermia, fever or secondary infections as their patients' bodies try to fight the virus. Part of her role is helping train about a dozen doctors and nurses in Butembo on how to adjust this care for pediatric and newborn patients.

"I had to change my mindset, that we were going to save kids," Narra says. "Now, it's — we're going to minimize suffering, and we're going to let the Congolese staff know that they did everything they could to save that baby's life."