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2w ago

DR Congo Faces Largest, Fastest‑Growing Ebola Outbreak

Widespread conflict, failing contact tracing, and absence of proven vaccines or treatments let community transmission outrun the response.

Red Cross workers walk in a formation as they disinfect Rwampara general hospital before handling the body of a person who died of Ebola, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, in Rwampara outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 21, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
Congolese children read an advocacy poster as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain outbreak, in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 20, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
A Congolese healthcare worker participates in an accelerated training session, at the newly built tents by the Samaritan's Purse International Relief, at the Scott Powell Memorial Ebola Treatment Center, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, in Bunia town, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo
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Overview

  • The outbreak, declared on May 15, has surged to roughly 3,874 confirmed cases and 1,751 deaths in early August, making it the largest Ebola epidemic recorded in the DRC and one of the fastest‑growing on record.
  • Nearly 90 percent of infections are concentrated in Ituri province, and health officials say 60–80 percent of new cases now arise outside monitored contact lists, showing contact tracing has largely failed to stop spread.
  • Response efforts are strained by ongoing armed violence, mass displacement, attacks on health teams, unpaid frontline workers and a substantial funding shortfall that has reduced surveillance and logistical capacity.
  • Researchers and WHO have launched accelerated clinical trials: therapeutic studies and a post‑exposure antiviral trial are enrolling patients in Ituri, and Phase I vaccine trials began in the UK with a Moderna trial authorised in Canada, though definitive results are expected to take months.
  • WHO Director‑General Tedros travelled to Kinshasa on Wednesday to marshal international support as partners open a 100‑bed treatment centre in Bunia and aid agencies warn the outbreak is worsening food insecurity and could fuel wider regional disruption.