Ebola is far from new in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). So why has the most recent outbreak been declared an international health emergency?
The virus strain involved, called “Bundibugyo”, is unusual in that there is no available treatment or vaccine, unlike the “Zaire ebolavirus” strain, the most virulent, which was responsible for most of the previous epidemics.
While 30 confirmed cases had been recorded in Ituri as of 19 May, suspected outbreaks have also been reported in neighboring North Kivu, a region already marked by previous health and security crises. There are more than 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths, stated on 19 May the head of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. An American national has also been confirmed positive and been transferred to Germany.
International concern has intensified following the confirmation of two cases in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, among travelers returning from the DRC. One of them has died.
Human-to-human transmission
Ebola is transmitted to humans from infected animals. Human-to-human transmission occurs through bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, faeces, etc. It is a highly transmissible virus. “Ebola is transmitted from mother to child, from husband to wife, from patient to carer, from the body of a victim to a grieving relative,” explain WHO specialists.
The main symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The average case fatality rate is around 50%. This rate has varied from 25% to 90% in previous epidemics.
Outbreaks of the Ebola virus, a haemorrhagic fever that affects Africa, just like the Marburg virus, which belongs to the same family, have become chronic in the DRC. This is the 17th outbreak since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976.
Successive Ebola epidemics over the years
The most recent waves of the Ebola virus in the DRC were brought under control in three or four months. The latest one ended in December 2025 in Bulape, a rural locality in Kasaï, after four months of a rapid and coordinated response with the WHO.
The longest in the DRC, in North Kivu and Ituri, lasted almost two years between 2018 and 2020 and caused 2,299 deaths. It was finally brought under control after a vast vaccination campaign that reached more than 300,000 people.
Ebola remains highly lethal and complex to contain when the response is not fast enough. Between 2014 and 2016 in West Africa, the epidemic also lasted two years and caused more cases (28,600) and deaths (11,300) than all the others combined. It spread to several countries, starting in Guinea and reaching neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
“A very serious disease, but we know how to control it”
In its statement, the WHO stresses that the event represents a high risk to international public health, even if it does not meet the criteria for a global pandemic.
The UN agency highlights several aggravating factors: persistent insecurity in the eastern DRC, the humanitarian crisis, the high urban density in some affected areas, and the vast network of informal medical facilities, which complicate patient monitoring.
Declaring an international health emergency “helps to draw the attention of the international community, to mobilise resources more quickly and to ensure optimal international collaboration. But this does not mean we should panic. (…) Fear itself is an epidemic,” explained Professor Mohamedi Janabi, Director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
“Ebola is a very serious disease, but we know how to control it,” he added.
Another rare Ebola strain with no vaccines or treatment was contained in four months in Uganda
Experience, speed and coordination of the response remain crucial in a context where international aid and the WHO’s budget have unfortunately fallen significantly. On 11 January 2023, the end of the Ebola epidemic in Uganda was officially declared, after a four-month struggle to contain a rare, highly contagious Sudan strain, which also had no vaccine or treatment. Overall, the case fatality rate was 47%.
USEFUL LINKS
DRC Ebola outbreak: hundreds of suspected cases, no vaccine
Ebola outbreak in Central Africa declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’
Animal-to-human diseases on the rise in Africa, warns UN health agency