The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported on Tuesday afternoon that it is analyzing the "rapid" spread of the Bundibugyo virus, related to the Ebola disease detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The WHO representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Anne Ancia, has indicated that there are more than 500 suspected cases in the country, among them, 130 deceased persons. To date, of these more than five hundred cases, only about thirty have been confirmed to be related to Ebola.
For the moment, the WHO has indicated that it is working in "close collaboration" with the Congolese authorities to accelerate detection tests in the east of the Central African country. For the moment, for this species of virus there is no vaccine nor therapies.
To this is added that the outbreak has been detected in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, which according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), are home to more than two million internally displaced persons. In the country there are more than 5.3 million people who have had to move to other regions due to the scale of constant violence suffered by the region, most of the displaced are women, girls and children. These provinces are also a reception area for refugees from South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.
The Bundibugyo virus considered endemic to the African continent, furthermore the last outbreak of the virus took place in the country in December 2025. However, the WHO warns that closing borders and imposing restrictions on travelers "lacks scientific basis" and only promotes that people move through "informal" crossings.
The United Nations has reported that "the trauma of the great epidemic" experienced in North Kivu and Ituri between 2018 and 2019 still persists among the local population.
Just one week after acting from the Canary Islands in the case of the hantavirus outbreak detected on a cruise ship that departed from Argentina, the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared this Ebola outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern" on Sunday morning. At the same time he has expressed his concern about the "scale and speed of the epidemic". For the moment, it does not meet the criteria to be determined as "a pandemic emergency".
Just four days ago, on May 15, Uganda, a country bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo, detected an imported case, of a man who ended up dying, the next day a second case was confirmed.
What is the Bundibugyo virus?
The Bundibugyo virus is a severe and frequently fatal disease of Ebola, caused by the ebolavirus of the same name. The WHO has indicated that fruit bats are suspected to be the natural reservoir of this virus and that initial transmission can occur through contact with blood and secretions of infected bats.
Regarding human-to-human transmission, it can occur through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids or by touching contaminated surfaces.
The amplification of this virus usually occurs when infection prevention and control measures are insufficient and during unsafe funeral practices.
Thus, the WHO has indicated that the incubation period is between two to 21 days and that people generally cannot infect others before showing symptoms.
Symptoms of the Bundibugyo virus
Initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. Subsequently, they can progress to gastrointestinal symptoms, organ dysfunction, and even hemorrhages.
The lethality in previous outbreaks has been between 30% and 50%, as there is no specific treatment or authorized vaccine.
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