According to the WHO, all ten neighboring countries of Congo are at high risk. But this is not a pandemic alarm.Image: keystone
A rare Ebola variant has broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are hundreds of suspected cases, but no vaccine. The WHO warns ten countries of the spread.
May 17, 2026, 7:25 p.mMay 17, 2026, 7:25 p.m
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international health alert over a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rare Bundibugyo variant of the virus, for which there is neither a vaccine nor a treatment, makes the situation particularly difficult to contain. The African health authority Africa CDC recently spoke of 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths – one of them in neighboring Uganda.
The WHO has declared an international health emergency. All ten neighboring countries of Congo are at high risk. With this step, the UN authority in Geneva wants, among other things, to put neighboring countries on heightened alert and mobilize the support of the international community. However, the WHO made it clear that this was not a pandemic alarm.
Danger of rapid spread
The increasing trend of suspected cases and deaths indicates “that the outbreak may be much larger than previously discovered and reported,” said the WHO. In the most affected area there is a fragile security situation, a humanitarian crisis and strong population movements. It is an “extraordinary event”. There is therefore a considerable risk of local and regional spread of the virus. Ituri Province borders Uganda and South Sudan. Another neighboring country, Rwanda, closed its border with Congo on Sunday morning.
According to the WHO, the first known suspected case and death occurred in the city of Bunia towards the end of April. It was a person who worked in the healthcare sector. However, the WHO assumes that the outbreak did not start there, but in a mining area. From there, infected people probably came to Bunia, among other places, according to a WHO situation report on Sunday.
Doctors Without Borders is planning a large-scale operation
The medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders announced that it was preparing a large-scale operation. “The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short period of time is extremely worrying,” said MSF emergency program director Trish Newport. In addition, the virus is spreading across several health zones within the Congo and across the border to Uganda.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that access to medical care in the region is difficult, said Newport. The organization is currently assembling teams experienced in dealing with outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever and mobilizing vital supplies.
Rare Ebola variant without vaccine
According to the Africa CDC, previous outbreaks of the life-threatening disease have mainly involved the most common Zaire Ebola virus, for which a vaccine has been developed. However, according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Bundibugyo variant, which has now been confirmed in more than a dozen cases, has a lower mortality rate of around 37 percent. In the Zaire tribe this is up to 90 percent.
This is the 17th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1976. According to the Africa CDC, there have only been outbreaks of the Bundibugyo variant twice before, in Uganda in 2007 and in Congo in 2012.
Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening infectious disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with body fluids. In 2014 and 2015, more than 11,000 people died in an outbreak of the Zaire variant in West Africa. (aargauerzeitung.ch/dpa)