The death toll from the latest Ebola epidemic in Africa has surpassed 5,300 fatalities, driven primarily by an extensive outbreak centered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to data released by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo remains the epicenter of the crisis, having declared its 17th and largest-ever Ebola outbreak in mid-May. Figures published by the Africa CDC indicate that the epidemic has claimed 5,376 lives overall, with the vast majority—5,372 deaths—occurring within the DRC. Additional fatalities have been reported outside its borders, including two deaths in Kenya and two in Uganda.
The current public health emergency is fueled by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, a rare variant that has infected approximately 10,444 individuals across the DRC, Uganda, and Kenya. Public health data shows the strain carries a fatality rate exceeding 50 percent.
Over recent months, the virus has repeatedly crossed national borders. Neighboring Uganda previously documented 20 cases, nearly all involving individuals who had traveled from the DRC, before health authorities declared the country Ebola-free in August. Meanwhile, Uganda enacted a mandatory 21-day quarantine for citizens returning from the DRC. In October, Kenya documented its first-ever cases of the virus, resulting in nine infections and two deaths.
Further afield, health authorities in Nigeria—Africa’s most populous nation—reported that two rounds of testing on suspected cases in the country’s northeast confirmed negative results. Abuja had reported an imported case in October, marking the first such occurrence in over a decade, though it resulted in no recorded deaths. European health officials also tracked a single case in July involving a health worker who contracted the virus while returning to France from the DRC.
Efforts to combat the outbreak face significant clinical hurdles. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines specifically targeting the rare Bundibugyo strain. However, in recent weeks, health officials have initiated clinical trials utilizing the Ervebo vaccine, which has previously demonstrated effectiveness against the more common Zaire strain of the virus. Response efforts have also faced security challenges on the ground; previous incidents include an attack where assailants killed a nurse and injured another health worker responding to an Ebola case in the region.
