An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 people as authorities warn there is no vaccine for the outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Sunday.
A total of 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of highly contagious hemorrhagic fever have been reported, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said in an update on Saturday.
The Geneva-based WHO said earlier on Sunday that the outbreak caused by Bundibugyo’s Ebola strain was a “public health emergency of international concern” – the second-highest level of alert under international health regulations.
The World Health Organization warned the exact number of cases and the spread was not clear but stopped short of declaring a pandemic emergency, the highest level of alert established in 2024.
Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was preparing a “major response”, calling the rapid spread of the outbreak “very concerning”, in warnings echoed by authorities.
“The Bundibugyo model has no vaccine, no specific treatment,” DR Congo’s Minister of Health, Samuel-Roger Kamba said.
