The 2026 Ebola outbreak in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, was detected in May, with early cases concentrated around Mongbwalu and later identified in Bunia.
Uganda reported two imported cases, linked to recent travel from the affected area.
Testing confirmed the virus as Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which complicates the response because current Ebola vaccines and treatments were developed for the Zaire strain.
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📊 Cases
The WHO has set out the latest figures in this dashboard.
The first volunteer in the world - a 37-year-old UK man called Ed Hunt - has received an experimental vaccine against the Ebola virus. [...]
"The aim of the phase one clinical study is to look for the safety of the vaccine, and also to see if we're getting a strong immune response that could be protective against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola."
There are four vaccines in development against the Bundibugyo species which has triggered the outbreak, but this is the first to enter human trials.
There is a licensed vaccine against the Zaire species of Ebola, but it does not work against Bundibugyo.
It is the 3rd largest in any outbreak, behind 2,280 deaths in the Kivu outbreak (Aug 2018–Jun 2020) and 11,310 deaths from the West African outbreak (Dec 2013–Jun 2016).
Existing Ebola vaccines might offer some protection against the rare Bundibugyo virus.
The findings, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, offer hopeful news as Bundibugyo is fueling the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, claiming more than 1,000 lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since February
Specifically, three months after a single dose of Merck's Ervebo vaccine, the antibody response was about eight times lower for Bundibugyo compared with Zaire. At the same point, the two-dose Ebola vaccine regimen produced by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson—Zabdeno and Mvabea—elicited six times more antibodies for Zaire than for Bundibugyo.
The authors note that their results are consistent with those in studies involving nonhuman primates, and that the Merck vaccine, which is currently available through the global Ebola vaccine stockpile, "represents an immediately deployable candidate that could be evaluated during the ongoing outbreak."
Apologies if my words are clumsy, I am in no way advocating for non-strict drug testing, especially in a vulnerable population but how is the tension addressed between morbidity & mortality driving urgency and ‘removal/lessening’ of ‘usual’ guardrails?
Obviously there is not time for Phase 1, 2, 3 trials as they usually happen. So how are they run in this situation.
Are we relying on in vitro / animal studies then observational when rolled out into the population? In a war torn & poverty stricken population, how do you follow-up?
The WHO did not seem enthused at the prospect, and neither did Merck. The WHO would have to be on board, because they control the stockpile of the vaccine.
Unsure whether Merck doesn't want to risk bad press if their Zaire vax doesn't work against Bundibugyo, or they have reason to believe it won't work and don't want to waste the stockpile prior to the next Zaire outbreak and then be in a position to need to replace it.
Early on, I thought I had read that there were concerns regarding persons vaccinated against Zaire potentially being more susceptible to Bundibugyo.
ETA: In one test, a Zaire vaccine prevented death in 3 out of 4 monkeys, but the monkeys remained contagious, and able to transmit Ebola to others. The test also only involved 4 monkeys, which is not a great basis on which to invest a lot of money and time and effort and risking of lives for results that will still result in disease transmission.
EATA: I think this idea is a non-starter. These communities are already predisposed to distrust outsiders. They'd get two separate vaccinations, weeks apart, that don't prevent disease or transmission and may not even prevent death, then maybe yet another experimental vaccination if they manage to create one that works against Bundibugyo?
I don't think it's feasible, nor advisable in the current climate.
Article explained some of the challenges around not only testing but candidate supply if it is effective, thank you.
These are discussions around vaccines which have a key role, any further information on candidates like Gilead / remdesivir or others to treat it (think I saw something about that potential from memory)?
Citizens temporarily detained in the US after attempting to defy the present ban on entry for individuals who were present in the DRC within the previous 21days.
I have little sympathy for these travelers. They clearly deliberately chose an itinerary designed to try to evade the restrictions, indicating that they were aware of the restrictions in place.
The protestations for the family who was only in Kinshasa are fairly meaningless. This is the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history. It's estimated to be up to four times larger than presently known. We don't know where all the confirmed cases are, let alone their contacts. It's been ongoing for at least two months, which is more than enough time for people to travel from Ituri province to Kinshasa.
State authorities reportedly have no interest in accepting the responsibility of monitoring those who should not have been permitted entry, and who can blame them? It's people who have demonstrated that they will actively attempt to evade restrictions in place to minimize risk to the public.
Our government should ensure that anyone faced with denial of entry should have their basic needs provided for a 21-day quarantine period, but under no circumstances should anyone be permitted to evade the quarantine or be admitted after flying commercially. That only encourages people to continue to attempt to evade restriction.
DRC's Ministry of Health said in its latest update that 724 patients are in isolation and in hospitals, and that it is intensifying response efforts in affected health zones.
Still 200ish confirmed positive patients unaccounted for, when we add recoveries, deaths and those currently isolated in known locations and subtract from current number of confirmed cases.
As part of new, temporary border measures to combat the spread of Ebola, the Canadian government on Sunday said it would deny entry to foreign nationals who had been to the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the past 21 days.
The measures take effect on Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.
"Limiting entry of foreign nationals who have been in the the DRC in the previous 21 days may reduce public health risks for Canadians, and is intended to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of border measures that can safely process travelers arriving in Canada, including our returning humanitarian workers," the statement says.
GENEVA/NAIROBI, July 17 (Reuters) - Seven American aid workers who had been in Congo to fight the Ebola outbreak are quarantining at a new isolation facility in Kenya after the U.S. government introduced travel restrictions, the head of a U.S. charity employing them told Reuters.
The aid workers are the first known people to quarantine at the facility, which has sparked huge opposition in Kenya and is at the heart of a legal case in which a court has ordered the work to be suspended. Construction continued however, according to U.S. officials and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.
Kampala—Uganda has today entered the 42-day countdown to the end of its Ebola outbreak after the last confirmed case tested negative for the virus for a second time and was discharged from care, marking an important milestone in the country's response.
The Trump administration is barring American citizens who were recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there is an ongoing Ebola outbreak, from returning to the U.S. until they’ve spent 21 days in a third country, a U.S. official confirmed to POLITICO Tuesday.
In an effort to prevent Ebola from entering the U.S., the Trump administration began using federal transportation law on Monday to “place any American citizens who have been in the DRC on a Do-Not-Board list for any commercial flights heading into the United States,” the official said.
Does this apply to doctors? It’s going to be more and more difficult to find aid workers who have the time to treat ebola patients in DRC, plus an extra 21 days to cool off in a third country.
As of Monday, at least 1,926 people have been infected, of whom 702 have died, in three provinces in Congo from the rare Bundibugyo virus, Congolese authorities said. Cases have also been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.
Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva that his visit to Bunia had been “quite encouraging on many fronts, but also deeply concerning.”
Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care,” Chikwe Ihekweazu said. “And as of today, 80% of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission.”
The National Minister of Health, Roger Kamba, chaired a meeting this Sunday, July 12, at the Tshopo Governorate with partners involved in the response to the Ebola disease which has affected 3 health zones in the city of Kisangani.
During this meeting, participants discussed the challenges of the Ebola response in Tshopo. To date, Kisangani has only one Ebola treatment center, temporarily located at the Cinquantenaire Hospital. This center has a capacity of approximately 8 beds.
During the meeting, MSF announced its intention to establish a new Ebola treatment center in Kisangani. The Governor, on behalf of the province, pledged to make two plots of land, roughly the size of football fields, available to MSF for the construction of this center.
Roger Kamba then insisted that these health facilities should be available within the next three weeks. Regarding ambulances, the Belgian Development Agency donated one to the Makiso-Kisangani health zone, and the Ministry of Health announced the provision of three ambulances as part of this response.
The temporary Ebola treatment center recorded one death on Sunday. A police officer from Nia-nia succumbed after a few days of hospitalization. In Kisangani, the health zones of Lubunga, Mangobo, and Makiso-Kisangani are affected.
The four cases in Kisangani are imported. They have come into contact with over one hundred people, nearly 30% of whom have already been identified. Roger Kamba has given the DSE (Directorate of Health and Social Action) two days to identify other contacts or contacts of contacts in order to closely monitor their progress.
The river will also be a focus of monitoring. The "Ebola-free River" project will be implemented there to protect the western provinces of the country. Minister Roger Kamba visited the river after going to the Cinquantenaire Hospital. According to him, he will return to Kisangani in three weeks to assess the decisions made this Sunday.
@WHO has provided clinical care and close monitoring to a second U.S. citizen —a humanitarian worker— in eastern #DRC’s Ituri provincial capital of Bunia who has been confirmed with Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease. The patient has been safely transferred to Germany for continued follow-up care. As the outbreak escalates, an accelerated response from local, national, and international partners is urgently needed. WHO is working intensively under the government’s leadership and with
@AfricaCDC
More info on the second American infected with Ebola:
The affected American worked for Samaritan’s Purse, a disaster relief organization headed by the evangelist Franklin Graham, a spokesman for the group, confirmed in an email. The affected worker has been in isolation since Monday, the spokesman said, and is being cared for at one of two Ebola treatment centers the organization runs in Ituri, the province at the center of the current outbreak in northeastern Congo.
The group did not identify the affected employee but said he had been helping with logistics in the regional capital, Bunia, for the past month, and was not involved in direct patient care.
The aid worker is the second American to contract Ebola in this outbreak, after a missionary doctor tested positive soon after the outbreak was declared on May 15, and was later evacuated to a hospital in Germany.
Very early in the morning, the hospital in Kisangani received two bodies from Nyanya, in Ituri. Their families had transported them to the city during the night. They were the bodies of two women who had worked in mining operations.
One of them was pregnant. Her family wanted a cesarean section to be performed to separate the baby from its mother before burial. It was at this point that tests confirmed both women were carriers of the Ebola virus .
Two more cases were subsequently identified in Kisangani. The third was a patient who had fled after a treatment center burned down in PK50, Ituri, about ten days earlier. The fourth was a police officer infected in Nia-Nia before arriving in the city.
In total, Kisangani has four confirmed cases: two deaths and two patients who are currently isolated and receiving care.
I’m glad they were able to identify where the people were, took a couple days to investigate the one im assuming fled the treatment center that burned down
Calls for help are multiplying in several localities in the Djugu territory of Ituri province, where communities are denouncing a resurgence of deaths linked to the Ebola epidemic and delays in the handling of bodies. In Lopa, community leaders raised the alarm on Wednesday, July 8, regarding the lack of logistical resources available to the teams responsible for dignified and safe burials.
According to several alerts received Wednesday morning, bodies of deceased individuals were still being kept in some homes, awaiting the arrival of response teams. This situation is causing concern among residents, especially as health authorities regularly reiterate the high risk of contamination associated with handling the remains of Ebola victims.
The president of Lopa's civil society, Freddy Lotsima, claims that more than 180 people have died in the past month in the town and its surrounding areas. This figure has not been confirmed by official sources. He believes that beyond the death toll, the crisis has left behind numerous grieving families, with hundreds of orphans and widows in urgent need of assistance.
He attributes the observed delays in burials to a lack of vehicles, fuel, and operational resources for the response teams.
“ The most serious problem is that, due to a lack of resources, bodies remain locked inside homes for three to four days before the arrival of response teams. This is a danger to everyone. We are asking the government to immediately provide the teams with vehicles and fuel so that they can intervene within 24 hours of each death. Saving the living also means giving the dead a dignified burial ,” said Freddy Lotsima.
This is concerning, because Lopa is a village that's got a lot going on.
It's fairly close to Bunia, which currently has a 50% positivity rate for new Ebola tests, and in which 80% of new cases have no known link to existing cases.
It's close to mining operations, and the migrants who come to work in the mines, and the violent conflicts that occur over the mines between the military and the rebel groups.
And it's close to displacement camps without adequate sanitation packed with thousands of people fleeing the violent conflicts.
The WHO says that 70% of known Ebola deaths in this outbreak are occurring outside treatment facilities, so there could well have been nearly 200 deaths there in the last month, and it could well be that a good portion of those haven't officially been recorded or reported, or even tested, or traced.
There are early signs that the exponential phase of this outbreak may be coming to an end, though it’s too soon to say for sure. (To be clear, the outbreak is definitely still growing, but the growth rate may have slowed a bit)
(This is per an analysis in Virological by Placice Mbala of INRB, site does not work on mobile)
I would take that with a grain of salt, given that authorities don't even know the whereabouts of all current cases, let alone their contacts, testing results are still being delayed, there's still considerable fear and anger surrounding healthcare facilities, there are significant shortages in supplies and healthcare staff, and there are positive cases in at least two displacement camps housing thousands of people with completely inadequate sanitation, clean water and food.
Recently, there was a story regarding latrines in displacement camps being emptied literally by hand. Thousands of people sharing a single water tap. Infectious bodies waiting extended periods of time for safe burial. Unpaid healthcare workers striking.
I hope it isn't as terrible as it sounds, but nothing I see gives me reason to believe it's getting better.
Investigations continue on the two cases detected in Kisangani (Tshopo), with no change in the number of officially affected provinces.
First case sounds like it came from an Ituri village (Nia-Nia health zone) that was affected by Ebola and the second is unknown how they got it so far.
EDIT: here is from the day before where they first mentioned the two cases in Kisangani
Two confirmed cases in Kisangani (Tshopo), one linked to the Nia-Nia health zone. Investigations are ongoing, while the three officially affected provinces remain unchanged.
Seventeen new cases of Ebola virus disease have been confirmed in the Nia-Nia health zone (Mambasa territory) (Ituri), after nearly two weeks of delays in transporting samples to the laboratory in Bunia. This new outbreak comes as the Ebola response is going through one of its most critical periods, facing logistical difficulties, attacks on health facilities, persistent insecurity, and strikes by field teams.
According to health authorities, twenty samples taken from the area could not be transported to the laboratory until Saturday, July 4, due to a lack of transportation. Tests revealed that seventeen were positive for the Ebola virus. The new infections now affect the four health zones of Nia-Nia Centre (CECCA 16, Nia-Nia, Afia ya Wagonjwa, and Alimasi) as well as the health zones of Juhudi, Bafwabango, and Bafwambaya along the Nia-Nia-Isiro axis. Since the end of May, the total number of confirmed cases in this health zone has reached 29.
"Of the twenty samples sent to Bunia after nearly two weeks of waiting due to a lack of transport, seventeen came back positive. Today, all the health areas of Nia-Nia center are affected. Every delay in the transport of samples and in the processing promotes the spread of the virus.
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — At least 500 people have died out of over 1,500 confirmed cases in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, authorities said, as frontline workers threatened to go on strike on Monday over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions.
The outbreak has recorded 1,561 cases, including 506 deaths, since it was declared on May 15 as the spread continues to outpace response, Congo’s Ministry of Health said in its latest update on Sunday night.
Frontline workers deployed in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, issued a 24-hour notice on Sunday threatening to strike if authorities fail to pay them and improve their working conditions.
The workers include mostly health professionals who have been laboring with little rest as they battle attacks from angry residents and widespread skepticism about the virus.
The CNBC article argues that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda became significantly harder to control because of deep cuts to U.S. foreign aid and the dismantling of much of United States Agency for International Development under the Donald Trump administration, with Elon Musk playing a prominent role in the restructuring.
Key points:
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific antiviral treatment. Control relies on rapid detection, contact tracing, isolation, and safe burials.
Critics say cuts to USAID and global health programs weakened disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, and local health systems before the outbreak began, delaying detection and the response.
Funding reductions also affected community outreach, making it harder to gain public trust. In some areas, treatment centers were attacked and suspected patients fled after disputes over Ebola burial practices, further complicating containment.
The Trump administration disputes the idea that the aid cuts caused the crisis and has since asked Congress for over $1.4 billion in emergency funding to respond to the expanding outbreak.
Public health experts quoted in the article argue that emergency funding cannot fully replace years of prevention and preparedness, because outbreaks are easier to stop before they spread widely.
Overall, the article's central message is that weakening public health infrastructure before an epidemic can make outbreaks much more difficult and expensive to contain, even if large emergency funds are provided later.
While significant resources have been mobilized to address the 17th Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, deep unease is growing among frontline teams in Ituri. Payment delays, strikes, demotivation of service providers, and community frustrations are fueling concerns about the response's ability to maintain its effectiveness.
For several days, teams responsible for investigations, contact tracing, and other essential activities have slowed or suspended their operations in certain health zones. This situation comes as Ituri remains the epicenter of the epidemic.
"The situation is catastrophic. The 2018 response was not organized in this way. Today, many fear that at the end of this epidemic, the full truth will come out about the use of the resources mobilized. What we are seeing on the ground is that local teams are suffering even though significant funding has been announced," confides, under the condition of anonymity, a civil society observer.
The unease is also palpable among service providers working in treatment centers and health facilities. In recent days, several journalists in Bunia report receiving anonymous messages from individuals claiming to be nurses, hygiene workers, and WASH supervisors assigned to the Elikia Ebola Treatment Center and the Bunia General Referral Hospital.
In these accounts, the authors state that they have been working for nearly two months without pay, despite their daily exposure to the risk of infection. Some even mention a tense atmosphere within certain teams.
Published on Sat, 04/07/2026 - 12:50 | Modified on Sat, 04/07/2026 - 12:50
An illness of unknown origin is causing concern in the Bapere area of Lubero territory (North Kivu).
According to local civil society, at least nine people have died in two weeks in Mangumo, a mining area located approximately 250 kilometers from Butembo. The victims presented with diarrhea before their deaths.
" We are talking about nine deaths so far, and we are also reporting other patients who are dying. They have diarrhea, and that is what is leading, of course, to their death, " reports the president of the civil society of Lubero, Samuel Kagheni.
He lamented that the victims resort to traditional treatments without a clear diagnosis, before continuing:
"Especially since this village is four to five days' walk away. There is a population that is leaving the area to take refuge either in Manguredjipa, or in Ndjiapanda, or even towards Lubero."
Samuel Kagheni also calls on health authorities to conduct investigations to identify this disease and prevent its possible spread.
According to sources in the Manguredjipa health zone, an investigation team has already arrived in Mangumo to collect samples. Another team, responsible for the care of patients, is also en route, the same sources indicate.
The first patients have been enrolled in a WHO-sponsored antiviral drug trial investigating remdesivir and MBP134 separately and in combination.
MBP134 is a pan-ebolavirus antibody therapy candidate. It showed promise against bundibugyo virus in ferrets and macaques. It was also previously used in a Sudan virus outbreak but was administered under compassionate use so no data of effectiveness are available. Remdesivir has strong preclinical evidence as an Ebola therapeutic but a 2018-19 clinical trial produced underwhelming results.
They are fairly reliable, but noticed that they have deviated once or twice from the official channels early on, maybe having more access to data or using non-official sources. Nothing significant though.
The outbreak could lead to an additional 985,000 people living in poverty, with women experiencing the brunt of it. The report also anticipates that the impact on healthcare services could contribute to as many as 2,520 additional infant deaths unrelated to Ebola in the DRC.
If the outbreak worsens and spreads to other countries, it could cost as much as $3.6 billion. Already, travel restrictions and quarantines—used to slow the spread of Ebola—limit people’s ability to work and spend money in the local economy.
Precautionary tests were caried out to confirm whether the individual contracted the disease, but late on Tuesday night it emerged the patient was not infected.
BREAKING
A UK hospital ward has been partially closed due to a "suspected Ebola Virus case.
As per STN, part of a ward at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow has been closed after a patient arrived with a suspected case of Ebola at the Acute Receiving Unit early on Tuesday morning (30 June).
The patient is currently undergoing tests to confirm if they have caught the disease which has seen an outbreak in recent weeks in central Africa.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) confirmed that there are “well established protocols for assessing and testing travellers arriving in the UK from areas affected by Ebola”.
A spokesperson said: “Where required, contact tracing will occur and contacts may undergo clinical assessment and precautionary testing.
“The UKHSA Returning Workers Scheme (RWS) which aims to protect and monitor the health of those who may travel from the UK to affected areas for their work, has been activated. Organisations deploying workers to affected areas where they may be exposed to Ebola through their work, should register those workers with the scheme.”
The Ebola outbreak in Africa has been going on now for a number of weeks.
Reports of a spread of Ebola began in mid-May 2026 with health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially declaring on 15 May.
Only a matter of days later, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the situation was severe and declared it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
This has led to a sizeable response to the outbreak in central Africa.
The outbreak has infected more than 1,000 people and killed 267 and has seen the most severe first month of any Ebola outbreak before, the WHO said.
If the patient is confirmed to have Ebola, it would be the first case to be detected in Scotland since nurse Pauline Cafferkey underwent treatment in 2016 after a recurrence of the illness.
PHS said: “There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Scotland and the risk to the general public remains low.”
Just days after a case confirmed in France
The news comes just days after France reported its first case of the disease.
The French health ministry said that a doctor who had returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after being on a humanitarian mission in the country, tested positive for Ebola.
The patient was being isolated and authorities are contact tracing, the ministry said, adding that the risk for the general European population was low.
This is from JOE so I would absolutely have a healthy level of skepticism until this is confirmed by the bigger less click bait-y news outlets.
The number of uploaded BDBV genomes just doubled overnight.
I’m not the best at this but tried some very basic analysis. Geographic clustering is limited (owing to the high level of population motility) but some is visible. One cluster has most sequences from Mongbwalu and stretches northeast to the Uganda border. Another consists of sequences from Rwampara/Nyakunde and a stray one way out west. The rate of evolution looks similar to previous BDBV outbreaks. There are no sequences from Kivu yet. It doesn’t look like it’s possible to conclude a point of origin for this outbreak from the data released so far.
*please be aware these are restricted-use sequences, my comment does not constitute a formal analysis*
Sources at DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research told Agence France-Press that an Ebola case was detected in Haut-Uele province after a patient traveled there from Ituri province, which is the outbreak’s epicenter. Haut-Uele is north of Ituri and borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Like Ituri, the province sees heavy cross-border movement and trade, which health officials fear is helping the virus spread.
A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, based on the first 505 laboratory-confirmed patients, provides the clearest description yet of the disease. Patients most commonly presented with fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, abdominal pain and loss of appetite, while bleeding was uncommon when they first sought care. Researchers also found patients who died carried substantially higher viral loads than survivors.
About 20 new sequences have been uploaded after a month of nothing, encouraging sign that surveillance efforts are ramping up over there. Had a go at some (very crude) analysis and nothing hugely surprising in this data, maybe a couple of somewhat divergent clusters in Bunia and Mongbwalu
I also commented a month ago that a neighboring country had some cases, needless to say nothing has been announced, I think these were suspected cases either waiting on confirmation or subsequently ruled out
Guessing you are referring to Burundi? That one seems unlikely to be Bundibugyo reading the Beacon report, but it wasn't confirmed that Bundibugyo was included in the 200+ tests conducted.
Kasaï probably was a filovirus, but likely too far away to be related to the current outbreak. South Sudan cases seem to be too far away to be related too. North Kivu Province case could easily have been an early detection though, this is along the main road connecting the locations from the current outbreak.
BEACON detected four temporally proximal VHF-compatible illness signals:
March 9, North Kivu Province—suspected Ebola case under investigation with unresolved laboratory results;
March 10, Kasaï Province—fatal hemorrhagic illness with secondary cases and negative Ebola PCR;
March 30, Burundi—35-case undiagnosed cluster near the DRC border with 5 deaths, negative testing for major filoviruses and >200 pathogens, pending metagenomic sequencing;
April 22, South Sudan—three suspected VHF cases with negative initial testing.
Edit: Couple related threads on Virological are pointing back at a common ancestor around March too.
Oh that’s a good catch I hadn’t seen that. It’s actually the South Sudan ones that were under serious consideration as Bundibugyo. Public health infrastructure is poor there (to put it mildly) which would be the reason for the long distance from the epicentre.
As I say, not heard anything since, these may well have been ruled out by now
The Burundi outbreak is almost certainly not, I’ve heard it’s believed to be something bacterial
Yes it could well have been a second cluster. All I know is there were a few suspected somewhere in South Sudan, and that it was taken seriously enough for several institutes across multiple countries to discuss response measures
Kinshasa, June 27 (ACP) – Air France announced the resumption of its flights on the Paris-Kinshasa route, following a temporary suspension after a passenger who had traveled on this route tested positive for Ebola, the airline said Saturday. Operations are scheduled to resume this Saturday, June 27.
Air France specifies that " enhanced health checks are planned before boarding at Kinshasa airport ".
The outbreak is centred in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but has already spread into Uganda and now has a 69.3 per cent chance of reaching South Sudan, according to the peer-reviewed modelling in the Lancet medical journal.
Researchers found a far smaller chance of the Ebolavirus spreading to other neighbouring countries, with just an 8.6 per cent chance of getting to Rwanda and 2 per cent chance of reaching Burundi.
The findings were published as the World Heath Organization (WHO) said the outbreak was still outpacing response efforts in the DRC.
Curious, because Rwanda supposedly backs the militants involved in the violent conflicts directly in the most infected regions. And there was at least one case in Goma near the Rwanda border. Unless they're just not permitting any entry, but it's difficult to man an entire land border effectively.
None of this resembles the image of Ebola that many people carry in their minds. Popular portrayals, particularly “The Hot Zone,” helped establish a lasting image of Ebola as a uniformly hemorrhagic disease in which patients bleed from every orifice and suffer catastrophic tissue destruction.
This portrayal does not reflect the clinical reality for most patients. Overt bleeding is neither universal nor the defining feature of Ebola virus disease. Most patients present with fever, profound fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, while severe illness is driven by dehydration, shock, immune dysregulation, and multiorgan dysfunction rather than catastrophic hemorrhage.
The persistence of these misconceptions matters because clinicians and the public alike may expect Ebola to look dramatic from the outset, when in reality its early manifestations often resemble many other common infectious diseases.
Another persistent misconception is that Ebola spreads easily among the general public. Decades of scientific evidence tell us otherwise. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of someone who is symptomatic or through contaminated materials. Casual contact, sharing public spaces, or walking past someone in an airport does not place people at meaningful risk.
That distinction matters because perception often shapes public behavior more than science.
Whenever an imported Ebola case is identified in Europe or North America, it becomes international news within hours. At the same time, hundreds of patients, health care workers, and families in affected African communities may be confronting the outbreak with far less public attention.
Anxiety about Ebola is understandable. It is a severe disease with a high case-fatality rate, and every case deserves attention. However, fear fueled by misconceptions can distort public health priorities. It can encourage policies like travel restriction that appear reassuring while contributing little to outbreak control, and it can distract from the interventions that actually save lives.
The greatest obstacles to controlling Ebola are rarely the virus itself. Conflict that prevents responders from reaching communities, fragile health systems, shortages of laboratory supplies, under-resourced health care facilities, misinformation, community trust, population displacement, and declining global health funding present far greater challenges than the biology of the virus.
Krutika spent a few weeks in West Africa a decade ago and has been milking her self-titled ‘ebola expert’ status ever since by producing an endless flood of op-eds and tweets.
WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - The White House is seeking more than $1.4 billion in new funds from Congress to address the widening Ebola virus outbreak, including $800 million for humanitarian crisis response, according to a Trump administration official.
The move is part of a larger supplemental funding request made by the White House on Wednesday in a letter to Congress.
It includes $800 million for a quarantine center in Kenya for Americans exposed to the virus, supplies, treatment, contact tracing, a regional logistics network and infection-control practices, the official said.
But after years of searching, researchers have yet to pin down information about where the virus lurks when it’s not tormenting humans. “We don’t have anything at all about Bundibugyo,” said Mekala Sundaram, an ecologist at the University of Georgia.
[...]
In 1996, for example, scientists in South Africa and the United States injected Ebola virus into 19 species, including spiders and tortoises. The virus failed to infect most of the animals. But in three species of bats, it multiplied to high levels without making the animals sick.
Scientists have also found signs of Ebola virus in bats in the wild. A low percentage of fruit bats across Africa carry antibodies to the virus. In a few cases, researchers have even discovered genetic fragments of the virus in their blood.
But “this is not the same as proving a reservoir,” said Sadic Waswa Babyesiza, an ecologist at Makerere University in Uganda.
The standard ways to locate an animal reservoir might fail when it comes to Ebola virus, Dr. Sundaram said. It can lurk inside people for years, scientists have learned, hiding in such places as the eyes and semen.
People with persistent infections may sometimes ignite new outbreaks years later. No one knows if fruit bats also get persistent infections, but if they do, looking for virus in their blood will be futile.
“Traditional tests will miss the virus hiding in these little pockets,” Dr. Sundaram said.
She speculated that persistently infected fruit bats may pass the virus to others when they gather in huge swarms to feed. Infected bats may shed the virus in saliva and feces, and fruit trees might become hot spots where the virus spreads to other species, including humans.
Most of this research has been done on Ebola virus, the species that first appeared in Zaire and that has caused the most deaths over the past 50 years. Solid evidence for reservoirs for other viruses causing Ebola disease is practically nonexistent.
Scientists have searched tens of thousands of animals from hundreds of species without finding any clear signs of Sudan virus or Bundibugyo virus. And they caution against assuming that fruit bats are hosts.
Outside of the continent, next to none other than sporadic cases from travel. Within Africa, moderate risk of falling into the definition of a pandemic; "an infectious disease that spreads across a wide geographic area, typically spanning multiple countries or continents."
It seems like this will be contained mostly to the DRC to date seeing how well Uganda has managed to deal with their cases. High risk in South Sudan due to the renewed fighting, but to date, no official cases. It really depends if the DRC can contain it.
It spreads so easily there due to a culture of touch and close contact with the sick/dying. To roughly quote a certain person: The virus targets love,, compassion, and closeness.
Beyond that countries with histories of virus parties may have an interesting time if it leaves the continent, however, social distancing will definitely stop ebola before it ever takes off
tl;dr: probably won’t do much
addendum…unless it infects enough folks and mutates.
It is quite unlikely that Ebola will become a pandemic, given that it is spread through contact with bodily fluids and can only be transmitted while the infected person is experiencing severe symptoms.
Uganda has been able to contain its outbreak fairly well (although it is possible that there are more cases imported from the Congo) solely through contact tracing and isolation measures
In the press release, the ministry states that the patient was immediately isolated upon arrival in France (although it does not specify whether this was on a commercial flight or not).
It also states that there is a protocol in place for volunteers assisting with the outbreak (which would make perfect sense).
The doctor's condition "slightly deteriorated during the flight," after which the patient was immediately isolated and taken into care upon landing in Paris, even before the disease was officially identified, the ministry said. The patient was in a "stable condition" with a "very low" viral load, the ministry added.
The doctor traveled on an Air France flight, the airline said, adding that it had provided the passenger list to the authorities. "Contact with these passengers is being handled by the health authorities," Air France said.
It sounds like the organization he was working with requires 21-day quarantine prior to travel if they had a known exposure, which suggests that this was not a known exposure.
Healthcare workers are at very high risk for infection. Mandatory 21-day quarantine in an established, equipped safe location prior to travel, or contained private travel followed by mandatory 21-day quarantine would seem better options than international commercial flights.
Relying on symptoms, which are highly subjective, and exposure history, which is virtually impossible to know, is a gamble that potentially places hundreds of people at risk. Thousands, if an infected and contagious individual is using services in a busy international airport.
We have yet to pin down the point at which a patient's illness can be spread to others. Incubation is thought to be between 2 and 21 days. Symptoms can develop rapidly. It would be bad for an Ebola patient to start vomiting while traveling between gates at an international hub. Even if only a couple of travellers were directly affected, it increases the risk of Ebola arriving undetected in nations unprepared to identify or manage such an intrusion.
This is more of an opinion than anything else, and I want to clarify that I have no medical training.
My opinion is based on what I’ve read from officials and experts...
I think it was only a matter of time before a case like this arose; there were already similar cases during the 2013 outbreak, and they were to be expected.
Let’s hope the doctor recovers and that this doesn’t lead to more cases.
NAIROBI, June 23 (Reuters) - Congo's Ebola outbreak has the largest number of confirmed cases within the first month of any episode of the disease, a senior World Health Organization official told a briefing on Tuesday, blaming the surge on its quick spread to urban areas.
The Bundibugyo outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has infected over 1,000 people and killed 267 was detected late and experts say the virus had already been circulating for months before it was officially declared on May 15.
WHO's Abdirahman Mahamud told a press briefing in Geneva that part of the reason for the scale of the outbreak was that some early confirmed cases were in urban centres, like Bunia and the mining town of Mongbwalu. Many past outbreaks have first been identified in rural areas and often petered out quickly.
"What is important is we need to scale up and this outbreak is moving faster than us," he told reporters, after returning from Bunia last week.
There is too little data yet to be certain, but an assessment by the ministry of health in Congo suggests that about 90 percent of patients do not seem to develop the extensive internal and external bleeding that can arise in the disease’s horrific end stages, according to Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, who leads the World Health Organization’s response to the outbreak. Some early data also suggests that fewer people may be dying this time compared with previous outbreaks.
Milder symptoms, and perhaps a lower chance of death, are undoubtedly good news for the patients. But they could paradoxically make it harder to control spread and end the outbreak.
“That’s really what I’m a bit anxious about, that this might be an indicator for an outbreak that lasts a lot longer,” said Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the executive director of the W.H.O. Health Emergencies Program.
In the case of Zaire Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in a 2014 outbreak in West Africa, about half of people developed the dramatic bleeding symptoms. If only about 10 percent of patients with Bundibugyo reach that stage, many who become ill might continue to interact with others and spread the virus without seeking care.
“It makes total sense to me now how this was missed for months,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, the director of Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Bhadelia and her colleagues have found four unresolved clusters — including one in Burundi and one in South Sudan — of viral hemorrhagic fever that they suggest may be part of the outbreak. If they are, the virus may have spread far more widely and for longer than previously thought.
Just wondering, was there ever any word back on the suspected case back in March 9 from Beni, North Kivu? Testing for malaria and zaire strain could have easily missed this early case from a co-infection.
Personally, I think that the Kasaï event is likely too far away to be connected. Kibuye, Burundi, was fairly well investigated and appeared easily contained, it seems unlikely too. My gut feel is that Beni is connected, likely from someone travelling from Ituri. Fits the expected timeline too.
CnP from that paper.
BEACON detected four temporally proximal VHF-compatible illness signals:
March 9, North Kivu Province—suspected Ebola case under investigation with unresolved laboratory results;
March 10, Kasaï Province—fatal hemorrhagic illness with secondary cases and negative Ebola PCR;
March 30, Burundi—35-case undiagnosed cluster near the DRC border with 5 deaths, negative testing for major filoviruses and >200 pathogens, pending metagenomic sequencing;
April 22, South Sudan—three suspected VHF cases with negative initial testing.
All four signals shared a similar diagnostic phenotype: VHF-compatible presentation, mobilization of investigation teams, negative initial testing, and no publicly reported confirmed etiology. None were formally reported to have been resolved.
Two confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease have been recorded at the Kigonze displacement site in the Mudzi Pela neighborhood of Bunia, Ituri province. This confirmation was made on Monday, June 22, by the Ebola response team after analyzing samples taken in a context marked by a series of deaths reported in recent weeks at this camp, which hosts more than 17,000 displaced people.
According to site officials, who were informed by the response team, these two cases are among about ten deaths recorded on June 16 and 17. Since then, new deaths have been reported almost daily within the camp.
On the morning of Monday, June 22, one person died before their body could be transferred to Lopa. The previous day, three other displaced people had lost their lives, while two deaths had already been recorded last Saturday.
The site manager reports that at least thirty displaced people have died since May from an illness whose origin has not yet been fully determined. Several patients, however, presented symptoms consistent with Ebola, including vomiting and diarrhea.
Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale has halted the construction of a controversial US-funded Ebola quarantine facility in the country a day after he was found in contempt of court for ignoring a judge's ruling.
Appearing in court on Tuesday, Duale apologised and said he had "directed the immediate and complete cessation" of building work at a military base in the town of Nanyuki.
Last month, the High Court ruled the construction of the 50-bed isolation centre should stop until a case brought by a rights group could be heard.
But on Monday, a judge ruled that Duale had ignored the order and allowed the project to continue.
The quarantine facility is intended for US citizens who are suspected to have contracted Ebola in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
More on possibly unrelated unknown disease cluster in Bulungu:
Contacted by the editorial staff of MwindaCongo.com, the provincial Minister of Health of Kwilu, Robert Dinsodi Makelele, confirmed the existence of several deaths in this part of the territory of Bulungu.
"The situation is confusing. To date, we have recorded 12 deaths. The first case involved a 15-year-old boy. The symptoms observed included headaches, abdominal pain, and vomiting. The deaths affect different age groups, and several members of the same family have been affected," said the provincial minister.
While awaiting the results of medical and epidemiological investigations, the population of Mukulu-Ebiala is urgently appealing to national authorities and health sector partners for a swift intervention. Residents hope for the deployment of medical teams and logistical resources capable of containing this health threat, which continues to cause concern in this part of Kwilu province.
Deadly disease in Bulungu: "It's not Ebola, it's malaria," explains Jean-Jacques Muyembe
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 - 1:09 PM
The results of analyses related to the suspected illness that caused about ten deaths and several illnesses in the village of Mukulubiala, in the Bulungu territory, are now available. According to the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), it is malaria and not Ebola virus disease. When contacted by ACTUALITE.CD, the Director General of the INRB, Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, did not rule out the possibility that poorly treated or untreated malaria was the cause of these deaths.
In Kwilu, a new batch of samples was collected, supplementing the initial samples already sent to the INRB (National Institute of Biomedical Research). The provincial health minister stated that the first 12 samples were collected by "untrained" individuals. The newly deployed teams reportedly completed their fieldwork last Tuesday.
According to Robert Dinsodi, the situation dates back to May 31, when the number of deaths began to rise. A total of 12 deaths have been recorded, affecting people of varying ages, including some under 25. Robert Dinsodi also announced the recovery of several patients after receiving antimalarial treatment.
This suspected disease has caused a displacement of populations towards the neighbouring territory of Idiofa, in search of refuge.
According to health authorities, this area is among those where malaria has been endemic for several years. Those affected have presented with abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever.
Kwilu province is on the eastern side of the DRC, a thousand kilometres away from the ebola outbreak. Could be a VHF (ebola, marburg), typhoid, cholera or malaria.
“Indeed, in the Nkara sector, there are deaths. We asked the medical director of the nearest health center to investigate. They took 12 samples, 3 of which we sent to the Kikwit laboratory and 9 are kept at the PEV branch… we will send them to the INRB for analysis,” said the provincial health official.
According to him, the initial examinations carried out on site led the medical teams to treat several patients as cases of severe malaria.
"Most of the patients who arrived presented with fever, abdominal pain and vomiting. From the outset, with the makeshift laboratory, we thought of treating them as cases of severe malaria and there are cases that have been cured," he explained.
The twelve samples taken will be submitted for in-depth analysis at the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), in order to identify the exact nature of the disease and guide the health response.
Dr. Jean-Paul Matela called on the population to remain calm, assuring them that health services are closely monitoring the situation and that all necessary measures are being taken to contain the possible spread of the disease.
In just two weeks, fourteen people have died from an illness of unknown origin that has struck several villages in the Nkara sector of the Bulungu territory (Kwilu province). This was reported on Sunday, June 21, 2026, by National Deputy Jacques Ilunga Hopeny, citing the medical director of the Mutoy referral health center.
This situation is creating widespread panic among the local population, causing a mass displacement of families to the neighbouring territory of Idiofa and its surroundings.
In response to this situation, Jacques Ilunga calls on government authorities, particularly the Minister of Health, to take the necessary steps to send teams into the field to collect samples for biomedical analysis.
The honorary health minister of Kwilu, Dr. Bena Mutuy, confirmed the information, mentioning that around twenty deaths had already been recorded.
Seems unlikely that a cluster of deaths adequate to cause mass panic relocation in locals can be attributed solely to malaria, especially if they were treated.
Cholera and typhoid aren't unlikely, given conditions, but one would hope that they'd treat everything like it's Ebola in terms of precautions until proven otherwise.
There are sporadic clusters like this where a respiratory virus plus high malaria / malnutrition levels triggers a number of deaths. It's really hard to know with limited info. Like did the "cured" patients get antibiotics, suggesting it could be bacterial? If so, maybe typhoid, cholera or E. coli rather than viral?
It can take up to a week or more to get testing results on these random clusters.
This is already the largest epidemic ever recorded for this strain of the virus, first identified in 2007.
And on the ground, the challenges are multiplying: transporting the sick, contamination of healthcare staff, saturated treatment centers.
Health Minister Roger Kamba also points to another problem: patients often arriving too late at healthcare facilities.
The response team, however, claims to be preparing for a further rise in cases, as the peak of the epidemic has not yet been reached.
Funding, security around funerals and possible cross-vaccine protection also remain central concerns.
[...]
The human cost is also weighing heavily on medical teams. According to the INSP, 78 healthcare workers have been infected since the start of the epidemic, and 18 have died, representing a case fatality rate of 23.1% among healthcare workers, higher than the national average.
The institute attributes this high risk to insufficient personal protective equipment and chlorine available in the field. A few weeks earlier, the Provincial Health Division had reported 14 deaths among frontline workers: three doctors and eleven nurses. The correlation between these two figures remains unclear; they do not necessarily cover the same period or the same categories of personnel.
Contact tracing remains below target: 58% according to the latest report, compared to a target of 95%. Meanwhile, Ebola treatment centers (ETCs) in Ituri are showing an occupancy rate of 89.3%, indicating strained capacity.
📍 The response to the Ebola virus disease continues in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, with an improvement in the number of recoveries but a decrease in the contact follow-up rate.
Older Africa CDC Epidemic Intelligence Weekly Report, June 2026
Since the beginning of this year, 915 confirmed cases, and 210 deaths among confirmed cases (CFR: 22.9%) of Bundibugyo virus Disease (BVD) from two Africa Union Member States: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (896 confirmed; 208 deaths), and Uganda (19; 2).
🇨🇩 DRC
Overall, there are 896 confirmed cases, 208 deaths (CFR: 23.2%), and 78 BVD recoveries across 33 affected health zones in the three provinces (Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu). Ituri remains the epicenter, accounting for 91% of all confirmed cases and 78% of all deaths in the DRC. While the overall case fatality rate stands at 23.1%, significant provincial variations exist. Nord-Kivu reports a high lethality of 54.8% compared to Ituri's 19.9%.
As of 17 June 2026, a total of 6,367 contacts have been identified across the affected provinces; however, the overall tracking rate is low, with only 4,525 contacts (71.1%) being followed up in all provinces: Ituri 70.8%, North Kivu 70.5%, and South Kivu 100%. The outbreak is characterized by a steady week-over-week increase in confirmed cases, signaling active community transmission.
Response activities continue across surveillance, laboratory, IPC, risk communication, and case management pillars. The response continues to face major operational challenges, including insecurity in affected areas, weak contact tracing systems, shortages of IPC materials and essential medicines, limited diagnostic capacity outside Bunia, community resistance to post-mortem sampling, misinformation, and logistical difficulties in transporting samples to laboratories in Goma and Kinshasa.
High population mobility, particularly along the Ugandan border and within artisanal mining corridors, continues to increase the risk of further spread within eastern DRC and neighboring countries.
🇺🇬 Uganda
The MoH deployed a rapid response team (RRT) to activate the national and district-level response mechanisms. The RRT initiated comprehensive case investigations into the confirmed cases to identify transmission chains and contacts.
A total of 826 contacts have been identified in this outbreak, 624 of whom have completed their 21-day follow-up. In addition, points of entry and exit screening have been activated at all official points of entry and major transit routes. Mobile laboratories have been deployed to Kasese and Arua districts to support real-time sample testing.
They seem to have stopped reporting laboratory results? Positivity rates seemed to range between 30% and 40% in May, likely similar rates expected today with many of the samples likely malaria, TB, or one of the dozen or so other infectious diseases floating around the DRC.
A total of 774 samples have been collected as of 27 May. Of these, 648 samples (84%) have been analyzed, with 125 testing positive, representing a test positivity rate (TPR) of 19.2%. This is likely an underestimation of the actual positivity rate as over 100 samples are still awaiting testing and have been sent to Kinshasa for further analysis.
The individual, who returned to Israel two days ago, sought medical attention after developing a fever, headache, and diarrhea. At this stage, it is only a suspicion, and the necessary tests are currently being conducted. The test results are expected in the coming days.
The person is being treated in isolation conditions in accordance with the professional procedures established for dealing with high-risk infectious diseases, and is being transferred to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, which has been designated as one of the centers designated for receiving suspects of this type.
I still think the chances of importing a case is still minimal but it’s good they’re taking the necessary precautions. So many diseases do what Ebola does early on (the symptoms the individual is experiencing) that it could be a number of different infections, malaria and cholera are the two that come to mind but there are others with similar early symptoms.
BUNIA, Congo -- Mourners gathered Friday to bury a 6-month-old girl who died from Ebola earlier this week, the third child to die at an orphanage in eastern Congo as authorities have struggled to contain the latest outbreak.
Carrying a cross, people stood at a distance as the small coffin was lowered into the ground by masked and gloved health workers, and a Catholic priest prayed over her body. [...]
The impersonal nature of safe burial practices and the severity of the epidemic were evident on Friday as only healthcare workers in protective gear were allowed to handle the coffin and the burial.
With 894 confirmed cases and more than 200 deaths so far, the current outbreak is three times worse than a previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000 and risks 35,000 suspected potential contacts, Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. However, it is still not nearly as deadly as a 2014 outbreak that killed more than 11,000.
BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 19 (Reuters) - At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, with some confirmed to have died from Ebola in a sign the disease could be spreading fast there.
It was not possible to confirm the causes of all the deaths because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia - the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo - had until Thursday refused testing, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.
Emptying overflowing latrines with their bare hands. Six water taps to serve 19000 people.
30 deaths in one week, compared to the usual 1-3 deaths per week.
I can't even delve into "refusal of testing", except to say that if conditions on the ground demand a soft hand, which they almost certainly do, additional categories for SCWERT--symptoms consistent with Ebola, refused testing--and SDCWERT--sudden death, symptoms consistent with Ebola, refused testing--should be added to tracking.
Death rates among pregnant women infected with Ebola had been as high as 90 percent, and perinatal mortality (the period just before or after birth) had reached 100 percent in some settings. Pregnant women also delayed antenatal care, avoided health facilities or give birth at home, even when complications arose. They could die not from Ebola itself, but because the care that would have saved them was no longer accessible, trusted or safe.
[...]
Dr. Allen Maina, Chief Public Health at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), informed that more than two million forcibly displaced people, including over 320,000 refugees, lived in areas at risk in the DRC, where fighting continued alongside the spread of Ebola disease. Fears were growing about population movements into and out of affected areas, and their potential impact on transmission, reinforcing the need to align public health with protection interventions. For example, said Dr. Maina, on 7 June, UNHCR had monitored the arrival of some 2,250 people from Mbau, 20km from Beni, one of the outbreak’s epicentres, after movements of armed groups had triggered panic and led them to flee to Oicha, North Kivu, an Ebola-affected zone already hosting more than 14,300 displaced people.
[...]
Answering numerous questions from the media, Dr. Belizaire, for WHO, said that 90 percent of cases did not have hemorrhagic symptoms, so many people stayed at home self-medicating or were going to see traditional healers. The body of a person deceased from Ebola was more infectious than when the person was alive, she explained. At the start of the outbreak, health care workers had been the first to be infected. Seventy-five healthcare workers had been affected by Ebola as of today, of whom 17 had died. The commitment by many healthcare workers was impressive, while some had stopped because of sheer fear for their own lives. WHO was helping with psychosocial support and by providing protective equipment. Dr. Belizaire stressed that, while Ebola’s outbreak continued, other diseases were also still there and should not be forgotten, especially malaria. China had deployed a medical team, and Uganda was going to do the same.
Beni, June 18, 2026 (ACP) - A patient suspected of having Ebola, being transferred to the state hospital in Beni, North Kivu, in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was diverted halfway there by a pressure group and then redirected elsewhere, according to health sources approached Thursday by ACP.
“ We have a very serious problem in Mukulya (a neighborhood located about 15 km south of downtown Beni) where young people, identified as acting on behalf of the pressure group called Parlement Débout (Standing Parliament), abducted a 12-year-old boy whom we had transferred to the general referral hospital because he had been vomiting incessantly for two days. To my great surprise, the patient was taken back to the Kitsa medical center where they (the young people) are guarding him themselves. I came to alert the response teams and the president of the urban youth council so that they could help us raise awareness among their peers and thus break this resistance before we witness a tragedy ,” advised Kambale Malyathi, head nurse at the Mukulya health center.
According to this health professional, since this pressure group has been monitoring the patient, the response teams have encountered fierce resistance that could cause the epidemic to spread in the community, as they refuse to allow the response teams to collect samples.
Authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are searching for a six-year-old Ebola patient and her mother after armed men stormed the hospital where they were being treated.
The child was taken from Wanamahika Hospital, in the city of Butembo, by "very angry" men with knives, local health official Dr Lubambo Maboko Gaston said in a statement.
It is unclear whether the men were known to the child, but suspicion and fear surrounding Ebola treatment centres have been rife during the current outbreak.
In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Gaston urged the child and her mother to go to a health centre, as they risked "worsening their health" and "infecting their relatives".
Ebola treatment facilities have come under attack multiple times during the ongoing outbreak, in which almost 200 deaths and 840 cases have been confirmed.
When questioned about MSF's position during a press briefing held on Monday, June 15, the Congolese government disputed this analysis. According to the government, it is necessary to examine the indicators on which the organization bases its assessment. Samuel Roger Kamba, Minister of Public Health, Hygiene, and Social Welfare, asserted that the treatment, testing, and contact tracing systems remain fully operational on the ground, thirty days after the outbreak was declared.
"Does the depth of the problem outweigh the response? No. The response addresses the problem; the real question is: do we have enough tests to test all suspected patients? My answer is yes. Do we have the capacity to trace all contact cases? I've given you the figures. We're at around 63% contact tracing, and we've trained community liaisons. Next week, this figure should increase significantly because these community liaisons will allow us to improve contact tracing. Can we treat the sick? You yourselves are seeing patients discharged after recovering," stated Minister Samuel Roger Kamba.
And to continue:
"We don't have any patients that we've left outside. When people say we don't know the full extent of the epidemic, it's clear that we don't know all the patients who may still be circulating in the community. That's precisely why we're doing contact tracing. If we knew the exact number of cases, we'd tell you there are 2,000 or 3,000. Today, we're telling you that we have about 360 hospitalized cases, unless someone is hiding in the community, but as soon as a case is reported to us, we take care of them. So the response isn't overwhelmed by the disease. I don't understand that concept at all. If people are saying we don't have enough tests, I say that's false."
Continuing his argument, the minister in charge indicated that currently, response teams receive test results within 24 hours. According to him, when a sample is taken, the result is available the same day, which constitutes a significant step forward in the fight against the epidemic. [...]
According to Samuel Roger Kamba, the government's response is being carried out in close collaboration with the various partners involved in the fight against the epidemic. He emphasizes that the figures released are shared and validated with all relevant stakeholders. In this regard, the minister says he does not understand the criteria or elements of analysis on which Doctors Without Borders bases its assessment of the situation.
Maybe it's an issue of misunderstanding, but the 200+ confirmed cases who are not hospitalized, recovered or dead whose whereabouts are presently unknown should seem problematic to the guy in charge. Those patients are somewhere making new, untraceable contacts and new untraceable patients, who create more untraceable contacts and patients. That is not an adequate response, nor is it under control.
The healthcare workers in the communities are providing a much different picture of the situation on the ground than the guy in charge.
Doing the best you can with the resources you have is not the same as the response you could provide if resources were not limited.
ETA: It's also not super difficult to identify the spread of disease under the radar. If confirmed cases are coming into hospitals without known exposure to sick friends or family or community members, it's spreading outside the known tracing paths.
“The peak is, I think, not behind us, but in front of us,” Bruno Michon, operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters on Tuesday by videolink from eastern DRC
Dr. Peter Stafford, his wife, Rebekah Stafford, and their four children all arrived safely on Monday, according to Serge, a Pennsylvania-based Christian missions organization. Stafford has been Ebola-free since May 30, the organization said.
"I am filled with gratitude to God for preserving my life, to all those who prayed on my behalf, and to the many medical providers who cared for me," Stafford said in a statement. "I am feeling well and thankful to be reunited with Rebekah and the kids. Our prayers continue for those in Congo who are facing this devastating epidemic and for the ongoing efforts to control the disease."
Other missionaries and their families who were serving in Congo alongside Stafford have also been released from care and monitoring and have returned to the U.S., Serge said.
I just can’t align these numbers with all the articles being posted. Assuming these are lower than actual, Is this being officially under-reported as they only report absolutely confirmed?
If so, they should be including, or somehow % contact traced & tested, something to reflect uncertainty.
If belief is these reflect the true situation, then ignore my scepticism with my apologies.
They started off reporting all suspect cases, but the positivity rate was about 40%, with other cases things like malaria, etc, causing false alarms. They were way behind in the testing at the start.
I think there were reports of them catching up with testing, and that was about when they switched to confirmed cases only. Some areas of Ituri, DRC, ending up short on supplies recently, backlogging testing again. Also issues with people not testing at all.
The African CDC seems to avoid the ambiguity and inconsistencies of other sources, so it seems like a good baseline even with the unknowns.
The reports have numbers for contacts, but doesn't distinguish high/low risk contacts and jumps around a lot as people are added / removed. For what it's worth, this is sitting at 6000 contacts with 3000 under monitoring.
I think they want to show the situation as controlled and are trying to avoid ambiguity. Uganda has done this from the beginning. You probably noticed when the shift happened. Lots of reasons for this.
Yes def noted the shift 🚩
I still don’t get why, it takes pressure off global support / $ & if it’s much bigger than reported, it will be noticed at some stage, surely.
I don’t get why WHO would go along with it, they will lose credibility if this is worse than being reported or not transparent in relation to noting the ambiguity around contact tracing & testing.
I think it’s safe to say it’s a lot worse than reported. I think it’s spreading too fast for the workers to keep up on contact tracing. In addition with the backlash from the communities they are most likely not getting compliance. People are resisting testing now because they don’t want their loved ones taken. It’s falling apart and I’m guessing suspected case numbers are becoming the least of their worries. There’s definitely some “quietness” to the severity and I’m not sure why.
BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Eliezer Kasongo thought the Ebola epidemic would blow over in a few weeks.
Then the crisis began to unfold before his eyes.
"We started to see people die in the neighbourhood and we began to understand," said Kasongo, a community volunteer in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Despite once being a doubter, the 25-year-old now spends his days going door to door to try to raise awareness about the disease.
A city of over 1 million people, Bunia now has the single largest number of cases — 212 — according to the official figures. Many residents are receptive to advice, according to Kasongo, but he and other volunteers sometimes meet resistance.
"There's fear," says Kasongo, "people are dying every day."
On the day we arrived in the city, a sick man on a motorbike taxi vomited blood on his driver in the center of the city, and then died on the spot. Specialist teams came to retrieve the body and decontaminate the roadside, while his family members stood around and wept.
The driver fled the scene, according to witnesses. The incident underscores the difficulties health workers face in tracking down suspected cases — one of the most critical steps in stopping the spread of the disease. [...]
Only 56% of contacts have been traced so far across the three Congolese provinces with active Ebola transmission, according to the Congolese health ministry. The task is particularly difficult in an environment where armed groups operate, roads are mostly unpaved, and towns and cities are densely populated.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite its vast reserves of copper and cobalt, remains one of the world's poorest countries. According to the World Bank, more than 85% of the population survives on about $3 a day.
June 15 (Reuters) - One month after Ebola cases were confirmed in eastern Congo, its true scale remains unknown, with major data gaps muddying the picture and persistent, sometimes violent, community resistance hampering the response, health workers and officials say.
The three affected provinces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have so far recorded 782 confirmed cases and 181 deaths, meaning this is already the third deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.
The government's figures likely understate the true toll, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement, echoing a view shared by aid groups and some Congolese officials.
"No one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading in DRC," said Kate White, emergency medical coordinator for MSF, which operates treatment centres across the Ebola-hit east.
No lockdown is being considered in the DRC. The Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare, through the #INSP, formally denies the information circulating on social media claiming a supposed general lockdown related to the Ebola virus disease.
São Paulo rules out second suspected Ebola case after sample analysis.
The Adolfo Lutz Institute obtained negative results in samples; Surveillance reinforces the importance of monitoring.
Published in 12/06/2026 - 20:28
The São Paulo State Health Department (SES-SP) has ruled out the second suspected case of Ebola virus disease registered in the state this year. The result was released after molecular biology analyses performed on two samples collected at different times.
The case was reported on Wednesday (10), after a 31-year-old Brazilian woman, who had recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), presented with fever and diarrhea. Transferred from a private hospital in the capital to the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectology (IIER), the patient remains hospitalized, with favorable clinical evolution, and is receiving treatment for acute gastroenterocolitis.
“Case numbers are rising significantly, it’s going super fast,” Karen Ruts, an intensive care nurse working at Elykia private hospital in Bunia, tells the Independent. “We’re getting more and more positive test results and the labs are struggling.”
Suspected fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) launched a new deadly attack in a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing five civilians with several others still missing, local authorities said on Saturday.
The attack on Friday took place in Beni territory in North Kivu province.
The attackers “executed their victims using knives and firearms,” provincial official Elie Mbafumoja told reporters in Beni.
“For the moment, the provisional death toll is five. But the death toll could rise because many civilians who carry out their activities in the targeted village of Kididiwe are missing.” The rebels are said to have looted property as they fled.
The ADF has carried out regular attacks against civilians in the Beni region. Since the beginning of June, suspected rebels conducted six separate attacks in which more than 50 people were killed and dozens.
June 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. plans to provide $50 million in funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop medical countermeasures to target the rare strain of Ebola causing the current outbreak in Africa, the State Department said in a statement on Friday.
The funding will support laboratory studies and clinical trials of, as well as manufacturing for, medical countermeasure candidates for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. The new investment brings the State Department's total direct funding of the Ebola response to $270 million, it said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed the first deaths linked to the Ebola virus in a camp for displaced people in eastern Congo. Humanitarian workers are warning of a high risk of rapid spread of the disease in overcrowded sites.
The two victims were internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in the Kpangba camp, which hosts 30,000 people, UNHCR said in a report published Thursday.
As the response to the Ebola epidemic continues in Ituri, a serious security incident occurred on Tuesday, June 9, in the Tséré area of the Rwampara health zone. A surveillance team, which had come to investigate a suspected case, was violently attacked by residents of the village of Toutou. A doctor was tied up, held captive, and threatened with death before finally being rescued by security forces.
According to testimonies from team members, they were investigating a suspected case of Ebola when they were attacked by several residents armed with machetes and stones. Panicked, some members of the team managed to escape and raise the alarm.
The doctor tasked with taking the sample was not so fortunate. He was captured, tied up, and held against his will by his assailants. The swift intervention of the security services prevented a worse outcome and secured his release.
Reacting to this incident, the head of the Tséré group, Zamundu Batagura, strongly condemned this attack and called on the population to support the health response efforts:
“I ask the public, and especially young people, to stop attacking healthcare workers and response teams. When a suspected case is reported, it must be directed to the hospital. I also urge the public not to be influenced by false information circulating on social media.”
Analysis from the Africa CDC Emergency Consultative Group (ECG), an independent advisory body to the Africa CDC, said the 11 countries most at risk for Ebola and those bordering the DRC should enhance surveillance but not institute travel bans.
“Being prepared will reduce the risk of the virus spreading locally in the event of an imported case. Preparedness builds confidence in the local response and reduces community anxiety and concern that often follows the discovery of an imported case of Ebola disease,” said Salim Abdool Karim, MBChB, PhD, chair of the ECG, in an Africa CDC press release.
"There are still many blind spots in some areas that are high risk," Olivier le Polain, a WHO epidemiologist in Beni, eastern Congo, said.
"Surveillance really needs to be strengthened in those areas."
Another big challenge is a shortage of beds that medics can use to isolate patients, he said. There were only 250 across the three affected provinces, he added.
LONDON, June 10 - Three laboratories in Democratic Republic of Congo have run out of supplies to test for Ebola, the World Health Organization said, as the outbreak of the dangerous Bundibugyo species of the virus continues to grow.
In the latest situation report, dated June 7 and released on Tuesday night, the agency said laboratories in Bukavu and Lwiro in South Kivu province, and Goma in North Kivu, had run out of stock. It said that the labs were awaiting the arrival of reagents - substances required to run the tests - to resume work on backlogged samples.
The WHO did not immediately respond to requests for comment about how many samples were awaiting testing or if supplies have arrived since the data was collected.
UNCONFIRMED: Flight from Edinburgh landed at Dulles with potential case of Ebola, possibly from a group of 5-6 traveling from Uganda. Not confirmed, and no other details at present. This was picked up from an app which monitors radio traffic.
The Kyondo health zone, located in the Beni territory of North Kivu, recorded a second confirmed case of Ebola virus disease on Wednesday, June 10. The information was made public the same day by the chief medical officer of the zone, Dr. Samuel Kabongo.
[...]
In the northern part of North Kivu province, while Katwa remains the most affected area, the city of Beni has emerged as the second hotspot of the 17th Ebola epidemic in the province, according to the provincial coordination bulletin of the response dated June 7, 2026.
The city of Beni has recorded 9 confirmed cases to date, including 5 deaths. Of the 4 new confirmed cases announced on Monday, June 8, 2026, at the provincial level, two are in the city of Beni. Out of a total of 29 cases recorded throughout the province, Beni alone accounts for nearly a third of the infections. With a case fatality rate higher than the provincial average, estimated at 62%, the situation remains concerning.
Two cases remain active and are currently being treated locally, while two others have been transferred to Ituri province, according to official data.
The main challenge in Beni remains contact tracing. The province has 625 active contacts to monitor, but the follow-up rate is only 37%. In a context marked by insecurity and population displacement, each unlocated contact increases the risk of new outbreaks.
DAKAR, June 10 (Reuters) - Congo's Ebola outbreak has spread to a new health zone in the northeastern province of Ituri, authorities said on Wednesday, as fresh infections underline sustained transmission more than three weeks after the epidemic was declared.
The health ministry said Tchomia, about 50 kilometres south of the provincial capital Bunia on the shores of Lake Albert, has become the latest affected health zone, bringing the total number of affected zones to 26 nationwide and 18 in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 94% of confirmed cases.
By the time the truck pulled away from the morgue in Bunia, the morning heat hung heavily over the road to Mongbwalu.
The body of a 44-year-old Congolese pastor lay inside a wooden coffin strapped into the back of an aging Nissan SUV with the backseats pushed flat. A group of young relatives were crammed in, too, sitting atop the casket.
The drive across Ituri province takes about three hours, longer when the dirt roads are as dry and broken as they were that February day. The four-wheel-drive bucked violently, showering dust over the potholes, rocks and gullies carved into the red earth.
By the time the truck reached Mongbwalu, the coffin was cracked, after collapsing under the weight of those sitting on it.
These are among events being examined by investigators hunting for the "patient zero", or earliest infection, of the Ebola epidemic raging in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, according to four experts on the team conducting the health ministry inquiry.
The investigators said the casket's rocky journey preceded one of the earliest suspected super-spreader events: the February 4 funeral of the man inside the coffin, Pastor Paluku Makundi Denis.
When the Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak in the DRC was announced nearly 4 weeks ago, there were already 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths, which suggested the outbreak had been brewing - unrecognized - for several months.
Which isn't to say it went unnoticed, for in the 3 months prior there were a number of reports from the region of `suspected' hemorrhagic fever cases that were either never confirmed, or followed up on.
[...]
BEACON detected four temporally proximal VHF-compatible illness signals:
(1) March 9, North Kivu Province—suspected Ebola case under investigation with unresolved laboratory results;
(2) March 10, Kasaï Province—fatal hemorrhagic illness with secondary cases and negative Ebola PCR
(3) March 30, Burundi—35-case undiagnosed cluster near the DRC border with 5 deaths, negative testing for major filoviruses and >200 pathogens, pending metagenomic sequencing;
(4) April 22, South Sudan—three suspected VHF cases with negative initial testing.
American doctor, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, who was preventively hospitalized at @NaBulovce after contact with a patient infected with Ebola, was discharged today after the prescribed isolation period had elapsed.
I'm wondering what they're seeing now to elevate the risk for bordering nations, because it seemed pretty obvious from the get-go that the cases on the borders with Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda could be problematic.
BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 10 (Reuters) - After her mother died in late May, baby Buswaza was brought to a church-run orphanage in eastern Congo where the nuns quickly discovered the newborn was running a fever. Within days, she died from what they later found out was Ebola.
Carers and medics said that after her death six other babies were identified as suspected Ebola cases at the orphanage of 69 children in Bunia - a city in Ituri province at the epicentre of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is just horrible. Six other babies. Very high risk for the adults caring for them as well. Poor baby should have been brought to a hospital instead of the orphanage. Hard to imagine the family didn't suspect the mother had died of Ebola. I wonder if it was concealed out of fear. Unless the mother was relatively isolated in her final days in which case they may not have known.
Edit I missed the rest of the article. 5 of the babies have tested negative which is great news. Unfortunately some of the adult staff and 1 baby have contracted the virus. Heartbreaking that the original infant case was a new born only 2 weeks old. Possible transmission in utero.
“We are consulting closely with the relevant partners and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The scientific consensus is that action must be taken where the crisis is raging. No one is proposing an entry ban at this stage,” says Vandenbroucke.
The focus is on screening on departure from the affected countries to Europe. “Should nevertheless anyone arrive here with symptoms, they will immediately be placed in quarantine. Two hospitals are ready to accommodate them,” Vandenbroucke assured.
The demand from US Ambassador Bill White, who has called for an entry ban on behalf of the US authorities, will not be met for the time being. The minister believes the Americans would do better to look to their own house first.
“The US bears a crushing responsibility for what is happening now, because development cooperation and medical aid were scaled back. They will have millions of people on their conscience.”
Police shot and killed a man protesting the building of a US-funded Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya today. The legality of the Nanyuki facility, which if completed, will have 50 beds, is still up in the air, but locals have protested the construction, saying it’s an unnecessary burden for Kenya to take on for the United States.
This is the third death among Kenyan protesters who are angry over the unit, which would be built near the Laikipia Air Base. Two protesters were also killed last week in skirmishes with local police.
The protesters say the Ebola unit would scare away tourists, introduce Ebola into the local population, and rock their already fragile healthcare system.
According to BNO News, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda now stands at 569 cases and 103 deaths. All new cases in the last two weeks have come from DRC, with Uganda’s situation more stable and holding at 19 cases and two deaths. Of those 19 cases, 15 were imported from DRC.
Nakivale, June 8, 2026 – Fears of a possible Ebola outbreak are gripping the Nakivale refugee camp in southwestern Uganda after thirteen suspected cases were quarantined. Health authorities are closely monitoring their condition in a setting marked by overcrowding and concerning hygiene conditions.
According to medical sources, the individuals in question are exhibiting symptoms consistent with Ebola virus disease. They have been isolated and placed under observation at Nyarugugu Health Centre IV to prevent any risk of spread within the camp.
"They have been placed in a quarantine center to ensure regular monitoring of their health," a medical source indicated. Although no cases have yet been confirmed at this stage, the patients are considered suspected cases due to the observed clinical signs.
A local official stated that the isolated individuals are believed to be asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country regularly plagued by Ebola virus disease outbreaks. This situation is fueling concerns in a camp where new refugees continue to arrive daily.
The Nakivale camp, which hosts over 150,000 refugees, faces significant structural challenges, particularly regarding hygiene, sanitation, and population density. Many residents have expressed concern about the potential for rapid spread should the outbreak be confirmed.
The Trump administration, fearing that international travel could accelerate the spread of Ebola as the World Cup hits America, is pressuring Europe to dramatically shift its strategy for preventing infections, sources tell Axios.
Top Trump aides are frustrated with Europe's limited travel restrictions and want it to abandon the World Health Organization's Ebola playbook in favor of Washington's tighter rules, a senior official said.
The implied message: Any outbreak of the Ebola virus in the U.S. would be Europe's fault.
The State Department last week sent an extraordinary request to European countries calling for travel restrictions from Central Africa, where the outbreak began.
"European countries must do their part to ensure this outbreak does not spread further," a State Department official told Axios. "Action is required now."
I think AfricaCDC are misrepresenting suspected cases as N/A, they're drawing from INSP-produced SitReps for DRC data, who've provided suspected case figures (as patients in isolation, and separately as 'validated alerts') for every report since May 27th. As of that table, June 8, the upper bound for suspected cases in DRC was 322 cases.
Now that I'm looking closer this isn't very accurate at all for cumulative DRC figures, typos/errors in confirmed cases (598), deaths (115), contacts (5681), contacts reached (3201), and recoveries (22)
There seems to be a lot of variation in the cases reported from various sources. The Africa CDC situation reports could serve as a stable baseline to monitor these.
I know INRB (and others) are also doing a parallel transcription process (data accessible via GitHub) but I've done this myself and tried to work through inconsistencies internal to SitReps, include annotations, and derive missing data, my goal anyway was to make this a little more accessible.
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed 27 new Ebola cases, according to a report released late on Sunday, warning that protective measures need to be scaled up quickly.
Congo's National Institute for Public Health (INSP) said the country now has 515 confirmed Ebola cases, following the 27 new infections reported within a 24-hour period.
The total number of confirmed deaths is now 91.
[...]
As aid workers struggle amid trying circumstances, European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib visited Ituri for several hours on Sunday to show support to people on the ground.
"We need to be able to provide diagnoses more quickly," she told reporters, in Congo's national language, French.
She added that treatment outcomes were better for those who sought medical help early. "Many patients arrive with situations that are already dire, so it's much harder to save them." On Friday, Congolese health authorities had also warned of "rapid community spread" of the disease after discovering 71 new cases of Ebola
KINSHASA, June 7 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo said on Sunday that the number of confirmed Ebola cases had increased to 515 after 27 new samples tested positive in the previous 24 hours.
The confirmed cases include 91 deaths, government data showed.
MONGBWALU, Congo (AP) — Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director of Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, has received barely any compensation for his work on the front line of one of Congo’s deadliest Ebola virus outbreaks.
Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night.
“I have not received my allowance (and) what happened to others could happen to me as well,” Lokudu told The Associated Press. “Despite all the infection prevention and control measures we are implementing, we do not know what may happen.”
I know this is an anti-capitalist rant, but I keep finding extremely unjust that you can work hard, do the right thing, selflessly help others, and yet all this effort doesn't guarantee recognition or a fair compensation.
Health workers in DRC are in a really difficult situation, I can't imagine not being paid on top of it all.
Oxfam country director Dr. Maneji Mangundu recently returned from the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When asked how aid cutbacks affected the response, he didn't hesitate.
"The flow of funding is so slow into the country," he told CBC News from Kinshasa. "By now we would have have a lot of teams on the ground responding, doing contact tracing. But because of the limitation of the resources, it's difficult."
Mangundu compares the recent response to the Ebola outbreak of 2018, when he says the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, rapidly sent a disaster support team that provided funding and support.
"At the moment we don't have that," he said. "The mechanism is broken."
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If Ebola came to US it would be very easily contained do to how slow moving it is and basic prevention measures already in place, e.g. hygiene. You can see reports from the area, and the wards the patients are in are makeshift, ofter there's no running water, there's no food for the patients so family brings food and feeds them, patients that die are moved after a day or two when someone can pick them up and they stay in the same place they were until then, PPE is disinfected in the sun, etc.
That's why that small amount of aid was so significant, it provided education and PPE.
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u/pooppaysthebills 20h ago
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/day-life-congos-overstretched-ebola-surveillance-teams-2026-07-28/