We Risk Dying for Nothing': Unpaid Health Workers Abandon Congo's Ebola Fight as Death Toll Approaches 600

This 1976 photograph shows two nurses standing in front of Ebola case #3, who was treated, and later died at Ngaliema Hospital, in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola HF) is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Healthcare workers battling the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun walking off the job over months of unpaid wages, raising fears that the country's response could weaken as the death toll reaches 580.

The strike, which happened in the eastern province of Ituri, comes as health officials warn the virus is spreading faster than containment efforts.