{"id":6197,"date":"2026-05-24T05:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/congo-ebola-kills-over-200-people"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:57:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:57:02","slug":"congo-ebola-kills-over-200-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/congo-ebola-kills-over-200-people","title":{"rendered":"Congo: Ebola Kills over 200 People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The number of victims of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to over 200 out of 867 suspected cases recorded, according to data from the health ministry on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The ministry reported that 204 deaths have been recorded in three provinces of this vast country located in Central Africa, and the virus is believed to be the cause.<\/p>\n

What is Ebola?<\/b><\/p>\n

The disease first appeared in 1976 simultaneously in the city of Nzara, Sudan, and the city of Yambuku in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was named Ebola after the Ebola River near the village where the outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n

Ebola causes hemorrhagic fever that can lead to death, but the disease, which has claimed more than 15,000 lives in Africa over the past fifty years, is relatively less contagious than COVID-19 or measles.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization reports that there are three different types of viruses that cause Ebola disease widely: the Ebola virus, the Sudan virus, and the Bundibugyo virus.<\/p>\n

Although there are licensed vaccines and treatments for Ebola virus disease, there is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Sudan virus and Bundibugyo virus, and experimental products are being developed to combat them, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

Early supportive care, along with rehydration and symptom treatment, can improve survival chances, and lives can be saved by seeking early care.<\/p>\n

Spread of the Disease<\/b><\/p>\n

The World Health Organization was informed of the disease’s emergence on May 5, with the first positive case of Ebola diagnosed on May 15, and a public health emergency of international concern declared two days later.<\/p>\n

The Director-General of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly and now poses a “very high risk” at the national level.<\/p>\n

The organization clarified that the risk of virus spread remains high at the regional level and low at the global levels.<\/p>\n

Experts believe that the outbreak went undetected for weeks, as there were already clusters of unexplained deaths under investigation before the virus was identified. However, because the outbreak is linked to a rare strain of the Ebola virus known as “Bundibugyo Ebola virus,” standard tests initially failed to confirm the presence of the causative agent of the disease.<\/p>\n

The health agency of the African Union warned on Saturday that 10 countries on the continent are at risk of Ebola virus outbreaks, in addition to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, and neighboring Uganda.<\/p>\n

The head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, stated at a press conference: “We have 10 countries threatened” by the virus outbreak, specifying that the countries are South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Congo, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, and Zambia.<\/p>\n

The virus spread in West Africa in December 2013, infecting about 30,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2017, while more than 11,000 of those infected died.<\/p>\n

Infection Numbers and Disease Transmission<\/b><\/p>\n

The health ministry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported 867 suspected infections, while the World Health Organization estimated the number of potential infections at around 750, with 177 deaths believed to be linked to the virus in a country with a population of 100 million that is experiencing a “rapid” spread of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

This outbreak is the 17th in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the “second largest outbreak we have seen in the world,” according to Nkengasong.<\/p>\n

The virus spreads among humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids excreted by infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, or forest antelopes, or sick or dead animals found in the rainforests, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

Infection can also spread between people (through cuts or mucous membranes) via direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of a person infected with Ebola or the body of someone who has died from it, as well as through objects or surfaces contaminated with bodily fluids from an infected person or the body of someone who has died from it.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization clarifies that infected individuals cannot transmit the disease to others unless they show symptoms, but they remain capable of transmitting it as long as their blood contains the virus.<\/p>\n

Prevention and Treatment Measures<\/b><\/p>\n

Experts from the organization state that there are two potential vaccines under study for use against this outbreak, but their development may take 3 to 9 months.<\/p>\n

In the absence of an approved vaccine and treatment for the Bundibugyo variant\u2014the virus responsible for the current outbreak\u2014measures to contain its spread primarily rely on adherence to isolation measures and rapid detection of infections.<\/p>\n

The technical officer for viral hemorrhagic fevers at the World Health Organization, Anai\u0308s Le Goff, stated, “Our priority is to break the chain of transmission by tracing contacts, isolating all suspected and confirmed cases, and providing care to them.”<\/p>\n

The Director of the Health Emergency Operations Division at the World Health Organization, Abdurrahman Mahmoud, stated, “All contacts and all infected individuals should not travel,” pending recommendations from the emergency committee.<\/p>\n

For his part, the Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said, “Our top priority is to identify all current chains of transmission, which will enable us to accurately determine the scale of the outbreak and thus provide the necessary care.”<\/p>\n

The United Nations declared a public health emergency of international concern to address the 17th wave of the virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is particularly spreading in provinces in the east that are difficult to access by land and are under the burden of armed group violence.<\/p>\n

The United States announced tightened health monitoring measures at borders for air travelers arriving from affected countries in Africa, while Bahrain announced on Tuesday a ban on the entry of travelers from these countries for a month.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Africa<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. The number of victims of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen to over 200 out of 867 suspected cases recorded, according to data from the health ministry on Saturday. The ministry reported that 204 deaths have been recorded in three provinces of this vast country located in Central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-6197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"\nCongo: Ebola Kills over 200 People - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press. 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