Democratic Republic of Congo registers more than 1,000 cases of Ebola in the third worst epidemic in its history

Published at: 23/06/2026 01:09 PM

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been officially consolidated as the third worst epidemic in the history of this virus, after reaching a total of 1,048 confirmed cases and 267 deaths.

Given persistent community transmission and the high risk of regional spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains the classification of a public health emergency of international importance to coordinate the health response and contain the spread of the disease.

The epicenter of the crisis is located in the border province of Ituri, which accounts for 91% of infections and 80.9% of deaths reported by the Ministry of Health. However, regional alarms have been set off due to the active internal spread of the virus to the neighboring provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, as well as because of its cross-border impact on Uganda, a territory where 19 infections and two deaths have already been recorded.

Containing the emergency faces a complex scientific challenge, since the outbreak corresponds to the Bundibugyo strain. Unlike the Zaire variant, this genetic mutation does not currently have an authorized commercial vaccine or a specific treatment validated by the international medical community, increasing the vulnerability of affected populations despite the fact that the current fatality rate stands at 25.5%.

Field research estimates that the pathogen began to circulate silently between communities several weeks before the official declaration of the epidemic last May.

Currently, health authorities are focusing their efforts on increasing the effectiveness of contact tracing, which stands at 70.8%, and on keeping 371 patients under strict isolation to curb a risk of geographical expansion classified as high in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mazo News Team