An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 people, prompting the World Health Organisation to declare the crisis a public health emergency of international concern.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa), at least 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever have been recorded.
The WHO announced on Sunday that the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, had reached the second-highest alert level under international health regulations.
The global health agency warned that the actual number of infections and the extent of the spread remain unclear, although it stopped short of declaring a pandemic emergency.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described the outbreak as “extremely concerning” and said it was preparing a large-scale emergency response.
DR Congo’s Health Minister, Samuel-Roger Kamba, confirmed that there is currently no vaccine or specific treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain.
“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine, no specific treatment,” Kamba said.
“This strain has a very high lethality rate, which can reach 50 per cent.”
Authorities also confirmed that the strain, first identified in 2007, has spread into neighbouring Uganda, where one Congolese national has reportedly died.
Vaccines currently exist only for the Zaire strain of Ebola, which was first identified in 1976 and has a fatality rate of between 60 and 90 per cent.
Health officials confirmed the latest outbreak on Friday in Ituri province in northeastern DR Congo, which borders Uganda and South Sudan.
Local residents described worsening conditions as infections continue to spread rapidly.
“We’ve been seeing people die for the past two weeks,” local civil society representative Isaac Nyakulinda told AFP.
“There is nowhere to isolate the sick. They are dying at home, and their bodies are being handled by their family members.”
According to Kamba, the outbreak began with a nurse who reported symptoms associated with Ebola at a health facility in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, on April 24.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, vomiting and severe bleeding.
MSF Emergency Programme Manager, Trish Newport, warned that the number of cases and cross-border spread in such a short time was alarming.
“The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short timeframe, combined with the spread across several health zones and now across the border, is extremely concerning,” Newport said.
The WHO warned that the outbreak could be much larger than currently reported due to the high positivity rate from early tests and increasing reports of suspected cases.
“There are significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread,” the organisation stated.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced 17 Ebola outbreaks, with officials warning that the current outbreak carries a high risk of regional spread.
The country’s poor transport and communication infrastructure has also complicated efforts to move medical supplies and emergency personnel quickly across affected regions.
The previous Ebola outbreak in DR Congo occurred in August last year and killed at least 34 people before it was declared over in December.
The deadliest outbreak in the country occurred between 2018 and 2020, when nearly 2,300 people died.
Ebola, believed to have originated in bats, spreads through bodily fluids and direct contact with infected blood. The incubation period can last up to 21 days.
