WHO declares global health emergency over rare variant of Ebola outbreak in Africa
World Head Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and neighboring Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
In a post on X, the WHO said the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, and advised against the closure of international borders.
WHO said a laboratory-confirmed case has also been reported in Congo’s capital of Kinshasa, which is about 620 miles from the outbreak’s epicenter in the eastern province of Ituri, suggesting a possible wider spread. It said the patient had visited Ituri and that other suspected cases have also been reported in North Kivu province, which is one of Congo’s most populous and borders Ituri.
Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but severe and often fatal.
WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action. By WHO’s standards, it shows the event is serious, there is a risk of international spread and it requires a coordinated international response.
The global response to previous declarations has been mixed. In 2024, when the WHO declared mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, experts at the time said it did little to get supplies like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to affected countries quickly.
It’s a rare, hard to treat variant of Ebola
Health authorities say the current outbreak, first confirmed on Friday, is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of the Ebola disease that has no approved therapeutics or vaccines. Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, this is only the third time the Bundibugyo virus has been detected.
Congo accounts for all except two of the cases, both of which were reported in Uganda, the WHO said.
The Bundibugyo virus was first detected in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district during a 2007-2008 outbreak that infected 149 people and killed 37 people. The second time was in 2012 in an outbreak in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.
WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action. However, the global response to previous declarations has been mixed.
In 2024 when the WHO declared mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, experts at the time said it did little to get supplies like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to affected countries quickly.
Conflict and migration complicate effort to track outbreak
Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya said Saturday that a high number of active cases remain in the community, particularly in Mongwalu where the first cases were reported, “significantly complicating containment and contact tracing efforts.”
Violent conflict with militants, some backed by the Islamic State group, as well as constant population movement due to mining, both within Congo and across the border with Uganda, have also posed a major challenge to response efforts.
Officials first reported the spread of the disease in Ituri province, close to Uganda and South Sudan, on Friday. On Saturday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths in Congo.
“There are significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread associated with this event at the present time. In addition, there is limited understanding of the epidemiological links with known or suspected cases,” Tedros said.
The two cases in Uganda include one person whom the country said had traveled from Congo and died at a hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and another the WHO said had also traveled from Congo.
The WHO said the high percentage of positive cases among samples tested, the spread to Kampala and Uganda and the clusters of deaths across Ituri “all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread.”
Congo outbreak killed 50 before it was detected
Kaseya said slow detection delayed the response and gave the outbreak time to spread.
“This outbreak started in April. So far, we don’t know the index case. It means we don’t know how far is the magnitude of this outbreak,” said Kaseya, using a term for the first detectable case of an epidemic.
The earliest known suspected victim, a 59-year-old man, developed symptoms on April 24 and died at a hospital in Ituri on April 27.
By the time health authorities were first alerted to the outbreak via social media on May 5, 50 deaths had already been recorded, the Africa CDC said.
The WHO said at least four deaths have been reported among healthcare workers who showed Ebola symptoms.
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