Overview
- WHO elevated the outbreak to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 20 following rapid case rises and reports of spread from northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo into Uganda.
- Health authorities report several hundred suspected cases and about 130 suspected deaths so far with dozens of laboratory confirmations in DRC and confirmed cases and at least one death in Uganda.
- Early detection was delayed by roughly a month because local tests were not tuned to the Bundibugyo strain, a diagnostic gap that likely allowed untracked transmission before containment began.
- Global and regional responses have been mobilized: Africa CDC sent experts and funds while WHO and partners deployed teams and supplies, and some countries have adopted temporary travel or entry measures to limit importation of cases.
- Because there are no licensed vaccines or specific therapies for Bundibugyo, response depends on classic public‑health measures such as rapid case finding, isolation, contact tracing, infection‑control in clinics, safe burials, and support for affected communities.