Overview
- The outbreak, declared on 15 May, has grown to more than 1,100 confirmed infections and over 300 deaths in eastern DRC according to national health authorities.
- Infections have crossed borders with roughly 20 confirmed cases reported in Uganda and a returning humanitarian doctor confirmed as the first imported case in France.
- A WHO modelling study gives South Sudan about a 69% chance of receiving at least one case within 12 weeks and projects a central scenario of thousands more confirmed cases by September if transmission continues.
- There is no licensed vaccine or strain-specific approved treatment for Bundibugyo ebolavirus, prompting international action that includes CDC Level 1 activation, CEPI funding for vaccine development, shipments of experimental therapeutics and planned clinical trials.
- Control efforts are hampered by a roughly six-week detection delay from lab assay mismatches, under-resourced contact tracing, health-worker infections, and insecurity and displacement that make access and isolation of cases difficult.