An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed more than 80 lives, as authorities warned that no vaccine exists for the current strain. On Sunday, the World Health Organisation declared the crisis an international public health emergency.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Saturday that the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has caused 88 deaths, with 336 suspected cases recorded so far.
The Geneva-based WHO announced early on Sunday that the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, now qualifies as a “public health emergency of international concern” — the second-highest alert level under international health regulations.
The global health agency cautioned that authorities still do not know the full extent of the outbreak or its spread, although it stopped short of declaring a pandemic emergency, the highest alert level introduced in 2024.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said it was preparing a “large-scale response” and described the rapid spread of the disease as “extremely concerning”, echoing warnings from health officials.
“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine and no specific treatment,” DR Congo Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said.
“This strain has a very high fatality rate, which can reach 50 per cent.”
Officials said the strain — first identified in 2007 — has already killed a Congolese national in neighbouring Uganda.
Vaccines currently exist only for the Zaire strain, first identified in 1976, which carries an even higher fatality rate of between 60 and 90 per cent.
Health authorities confirmed the latest outbreak on Friday in Ituri province in north-eastern DRC, which borders Uganda and South Sudan, according to CDC Africa.
“We’ve been seeing people die for the past two weeks,” local civil society representative Isaac Nyakulinda told AFP by telephone.
“There is nowhere to isolate the sick. They are dying at home, and their bodies are being handled by their family members.”
According to Kamba, the index case involved a nurse who visited a health facility in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, on April 24 with symptoms linked to Ebola.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, bleeding and vomiting.
“The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short period, combined with the spread across several health zones and now across borders, is extremely concerning,” said Trish Newport, Emergency Programme Manager at MSF, which is deploying medical and support personnel to the affected area.
Transporting medical supplies across the DRC remains difficult due to poor communications infrastructure in the vast nation of more than 100 million people, which is four times the size of France.
High Risk Of Spread
The DRC is now facing its 17th Ebola outbreak, with officials warning that the virus could spread further.
“There are significant uncertainties regarding the true number of infections and the geographic spread,” the WHO said.
However, the agency added that the high positivity rate from initial samples, confirmed cases in two countries, and rising reports of suspected infections “all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread.”
The previous Ebola outbreak in the DRC occurred last August in the country’s central region and killed at least 34 people before officials declared it over in December.
Between 2018 and 2020, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the DRC killed nearly 2,300 people.
Scientists believe Ebola originated in bats. The virus can trigger severe bleeding and organ failure.
According to the WHO, outbreaks over the past 50 years have recorded mortality rates ranging from 25 to 90 per cent.
The virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids or blood from an infected person, who only becomes contagious after symptoms appear. The incubation period can last up to 21 days.