What we know about Congo's new Ebola outbreak

By Marta Iraola Iribarren & with AP Published on 15/05/2026 - 16:05 GMT+2•Updated 16:13 Share Comments Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp

Congo’s new Ebola outbreak has caused 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases so far.

Africa’s top public health authorities have confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo.

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The new outbreak has caused 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Friday.

Here’s what to know about the health crisis:

Where did the outbreak start?

The suspected Ebola cases have mainly been recorded in Ituri's Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.

Ituri is in a remote eastern part of Congo with poor road networks, and is more than 1,000 kilometres from the nation’s capital, Kinshasa.

So far, only four of the deaths reported are laboratory-confirmed cases, but the new outbreak was confirmed after many suspected cases.

Authorities are worried about the risk of further spread

One major concern, the Africa CDC said, is the proximity of affected areas to Uganda and South Sudan. Bunia, Ituri's main city, is near the border with Uganda.

The agency said there's also a risk of further spread due to intense population movement, including that related to mining, and the security crises in affected areas. Attacks by armed groups have killed dozens and displaced thousands in parts of Ituri province in the past year.

There are also gaps in contact listing, the Africa CDC said, as local authorities race to find those who might have been exposed to the virus.

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• New Ebola outbreak in remote Congo province leaves 65 dead, 246 infected

What is Ebola?

The virus was first discovered in 1976, near the Ebola River in what is now Congo. The first outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests. Ebola disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and primates.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals such as fruit bats, porcupines and primates. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials contaminated with these fluids.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea. Severe cases can progress to bleeding complications, multi-organ failure, and death.

The average Ebola disease case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25–90% in past outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Is there a vaccine for Ebola?

“While Ebola remains a serious disease, outbreak prevention, response, and treatment have improved significantly over the past decade,” said Daniela Manno, clinical assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“There are now vaccines available for some viruses causing Ebola disease, which can help protect healthcare workers and reduce transmission when deployed rapidly around confirmed cases and their contacts in a strategy known as ring vaccination.”

However, access to the vaccines is not always easy in Congo due to structural barriers and a lack of funding.

During last year’s outbreak, which lasted three months, the WHO initially faced significant challenges in delivering vaccines, which took a week after the outbreak was confirmed.

Congo is Africa’s second-largest country by land area and often faces logistical challenges in responding to disease outbreaks due to bad roads and long distances between population hubs.

During the last outbreak, health officials were concerned about the impact of recent United States funding cuts.

The US had supported the response to Congo’s past Ebola outbreaks, including in 2021 when the US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided up to $11.5 million (€ 9.8 million) to support efforts across Africa.

Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak

The latest outbreak is Congo’s 17th since the disease first emerged in the country in 1976.

It comes around five months after Congo’s last Ebola outbreak was declared over in December, after 43 deaths. Before then, the last outbreak, in the northeastern Equateur province in 2022, killed six people.

An Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020 in eastern Congo killed more than 1,000 people, the most deaths after the 2014-2016 outbreak in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia that killed more than 11,000 people.

How can an outbreak be controlled?

“Non-pharmaceutical interventions are cornerstones of Ebola outbreak response,” said Anne Cori from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London.

“These interventions include active case finding and isolation, contact tracing, and safe burials, as Ebola is very deadly (about half of infected people die) and particularly infectious around the time of death,” she added.

The WHO identifies community engagement as key to successfully controlling any outbreak.

Outbreak control relies on using a range of interventions, such as clinical care, surveillance and contact tracing, laboratory services, infection prevention and control in health facilities, safe and dignified burials, vaccination, when possible, and social mobilisation.

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