Ebola Outbreak in Eastern DRC Spreads to Uganda as Response Struggles

Overview

• Health authorities declared the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on May 15, and the World Health Organization raised an international public-health alert two days later as cases expanded.
• The epidemic is concentrated in Ituri province where most infections are reported, but official totals differ widely with WHO reporting about 800 cases and nearly 200 deaths while other groups report lower figures, pointing to likely undercounting.
• Laboratory capacity is severely limited across the region so testing is slow and patchy, which delays detection, hampers contact tracing and produces the data gaps noted by MSF and other responders.
• The outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo Ebola strain for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, and recent transmission has crossed into Uganda with linked cases and deaths.
• Humanitarian organizations say access is blocked by long‑running armed conflict, attacks and community distrust, IFRC warns the crisis could last up to a year, and international leaders are calling for a coordinated funding and operational scale‑up to avert wider spread.