The World Health Organization (WHO) activated its second-highest level of international alert on Sunday, May 17, in response to the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to a statement released by the WHO, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the virus “constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency.”
Since 2024, PHEIC has been the second-highest level of alert by the WHO, after “emergency due to a pandemic.”
Ebola, which causes a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever, remains dangerous despite recent vaccines and treatments that are only effective against the Zaïre strain responsible for major recorded epidemics.
The Ituri province in northeastern DRC is experiencing an outbreak of the Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine. As of May 16, the WHO has confirmed eight laboratory cases and identified 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths in the province, along with another confirmed case in Kinshasa and one death in Kampala, Uganda, among travelers recently returned from Ituri.
The African Union Health Agency, Africa CDC, has reported 88 deaths likely due to the virus out of 336 suspected cases as of Saturday, according to the latest figures.
The epidemic’s epicenter is in a hard-to-reach area, where few samples have been tested in laboratories, and the assessments primarily rely on suspected cases.
Ituri, a gold-rich region bordering Uganda and South Sudan, experiences intense population movements linked to mining activity. Access to certain areas affected by armed violence is challenging due to security reasons.
“We have been seeing people die for two weeks,” said Isaac Nyakulinda, a representative from the civil society of Rwampara town (Ituri), contacted by AFP by phone.
“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine and no specific treatment,” emphasized Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba on Saturday, adding that “with this strain, the mortality rate is very high, reaching up to 50%.”
The Bundibugyo variant has caused only two epidemics worldwide to date, in Uganda in 2007 (42 deaths out of 131 confirmed cases) and in DRC in 2012 (13 deaths out of 38 confirmed cases).
“We do not have a vaccine, which means we primarily rely on public health measures” such as respecting barrier gestures and limiting movements, summarized Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya on Saturday.
According to health authorities, the first suspected case is a nurse who presented on April 24 at a medical facility in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, with Ebola infection symptoms.
DRC experienced an Ebola epidemic between August and December 2025, resulting in at least 34 deaths. The deadliest epidemic resulted in over 2,300 deaths out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.
Overall, this epidemic is the 17th in DRC since the disease was identified in 1976 in what used to be called Zaire. Other African countries have been affected by the virus in recent years, including Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Human transmission of the virus occurs through bodily fluids or exposure to the blood of an infected person, whether alive or deceased. Infected individuals become contagious only after the onset of symptoms, with an incubation period of up to 21 days.
