Overview
- The outbreak began with a first detected patient in late April and was declared on May 15, and it has grown to about 5,021 confirmed cases and 2,378 deaths, making it the deadliest Ebola epidemic recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Health authorities identified the cause as the Bundibugyo Ebola variant, for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
- WHO experts reviewed preliminary animal data that suggest possible cross-protection and have recommended a randomized trial of the licensed Ervebo vaccine to test whether it helps against Bundibugyo.
- Response efforts are constrained by armed violence, mass displacement, collapsed local hospitals and weak surveillance, leaving an estimated 60 to 70 percent of new cases unmonitored and many deaths occurring outside treatment centers.
- The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, transmission has crossed borders with Uganda later stopping further spread, at least one imported case reached France and the crisis is straining humanitarian services and routine care for other diseases.