A recent report from the government data revealed that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in the death of 2,325 individuals, making it the deadliest outbreak in the country’s history, surpassing the toll from the 2018-2020 outbreak. The country’s public health institute stated in its latest update that the number of confirmed cases has reached 4,945, with 101 new cases detected within the previous 24 hours.
This outbreak, which marks the 17th in the country, has already set a record for the highest number of cases in Congo’s history, achieved in late July. The latest government figures indicate that the total number of deaths has exceeded the 2,299 fatalities recorded during the 2018-2020 outbreak, which was previously the most severe in the nation’s history. The current data also confirms 4,945 confirmed cases.
Three months since its official declaration, this outbreak is now second in size only to the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016, which saw 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization. Whereas it took almost five months for the West Africa outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, the current outbreak in Congo reached 2,000 deaths in less than three months.
The ongoing outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which lacks approved vaccines or treatments. Since its declaration on May 15, the outbreak has gained momentum due to challenges such as weak health infrastructure, community resistance, and instability, hindering efforts to identify and respond to cases. The case fatality ratio, measuring the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases, has risen from around 20% in early June to 46%, indicating that almost half of confirmed cases are now fatal.
Experts suggest that this trend does not imply the virus has become more lethal but rather highlights persistent issues in surveillance, case detection, and access to care. Efforts are underway to evaluate a few experimental vaccines and therapies, while global health authorities assess the potential of existing Ebola treatments to provide protection, albeit based on limited evidence from animal studies.
The outbreak had previously spread to neighboring Uganda, with authorities managing to limit deaths to two and confirmed cases to 20 before declaring an end to the outbreak last month. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, leading to symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.