The death toll from the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is rising rapidly. According to the latest government data, 192 people have died out of more than 800 infected. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the Ebola outbreak in Congo could become the largest in history. During an online meeting of African heads of state, he said: "If we do not stop the outbreak soon, the situation will be worse than in West Africa and eastern DRC."
Kaseya also listed critical problems, including insufficient resources to trace contacts of more than 800 confirmed cases. "We are monitoring the health of only 12% of our population. This means we do not yet know the scale of this outbreak," he said. There is also a severe shortage of burial teams and personal protective equipment.
Bruno Michon, a Red Cross representative, stated that the Ebola epidemic in eastern DRC has not yet peaked. "We fear it could take a whole year to eradicate this disease," he said. Earlier, it was reported that 30 people had recovered as of June 11.
The Bundibugyo virus was first identified in 2007. It is much rarer than the well-known Zaire strain, so it is poorly understood and associated with high mortality. Currently, treatment is limited to supportive care and complication management, and a vaccine is not expected until around the end of 2026.