Over 450 cases confirmed in East Africa Ebola outbreak

WHO has updated data on the Ebola outbreak in East Africa and confirmed 471 cases of the disease.

This is reported by Sweden Herald.

The virus has killed 82 people. The vast majority of Ebola cases have been reported in Congo, while 19 have been confirmed in Uganda.

In addition, WHO warned that the rapid spread of the disease has been recorded over the past 24 hours. According to the assessment of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this outbreak may be larger than the one in West Africa in 2014.

Ebola outbreak in DR Congo

The first human case of Ebola virus disease was reported in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. The mortality rate during the first outbreaks was as high as 90%. Thanks to the advent of the Ebola-Zaire strain vaccine, this figure has been reduced to almost 40%.

The largest outbreak of Ebola virus in terms of the number of infected people occurred in West Africa from 2014 to 2016. The number of victims exceeded 11 000. In 2014, Time magazine named the fighters against Ebola "Person of the Year".

On May 17, 2026, WHO reported a new outbreak of Ebola fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda (at that time, 80 deaths were known, and on May 19, local authorities announced that 131 people had died). The organization called the fever epidemic a public health emergency of international concern. After all, there is no vaccine for this strain — Ebola-Bundibugyo.

At the same time, WHO advised countries neighbouring the DR Congo to activate their national disaster and emergency management mechanisms, as well as conduct screening at borders and main internal roads.

The current outbreak is the 17th in the history of DR Congo. All previous ones, except one, were caused by the Zaire strain.

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