The World Health Organization on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern. The agency stressed the situation does not meet the threshold of a pandemic, but warned that the 10 countries sharing land borders with the DRC are at high risk of further spread.
WHO officials said the true size of the outbreak may be larger than current reports indicate, pointing to a high positivity rate among initial samples and a rising number of suspected cases.
The current flare-up is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. DRC Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said this strain has no vaccine or specific treatment and carries a very high lethality rate that can reach about 50 percent. As of Sunday, authorities reported roughly 88 suspected deaths and more than 300 suspected cases in Ituri province in eastern DRC.
A laboratory-confirmed case has also been identified in Kinshasa, the DRC capital, nearly 1,000 kilometers from Ituri. Health officials said another confirmed case was detected in Goma, a major eastern city in North Kivu province currently under the control of the M23 rebel group. In Uganda, two confirmed cases were recorded in Kampala among people who had traveled from the DRC; one of those individuals has died.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders described the rapid spread as extremely concerning and said it is preparing a large-scale response. WHO urged countries to activate national disaster and emergency-management systems and to carry out cross-border screening to limit transmission.
At the same time, the global health body warned against closing borders or imposing travel and trade restrictions, saying such measures can backfire by driving informal, unmonitored crossings.
Ebola is believed to originate in bats and spreads between people through direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated blood. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure. This marks the DRC’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak. Over the past 50 years, Ebola has caused roughly 15,000 deaths across Africa.
WHO and partner organizations are stepping up surveillance, case finding, and response measures as health authorities work to contain the outbreak and prevent further international spread.