The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak linked to the Bundibugyo virus strain a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), warning that there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the variant spreading across parts of Central Africa.
The declaration, announced in a detailed statement released by the global health body on Sunday, May 17, shows growing international concern over the expanding outbreak, particularly following the confirmation of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Uganda.
Health authorities say the outbreak began in Ituri Province in eastern DR Congo before infections were later detected in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city, after infected individuals travelled from the Congolese region into Uganda. WHO also confirmed another Ebola case in Kinshasa, DR Congo’s capital, involving a traveller who recently returned from Ituri Province.
According to WHO, although the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the outbreak has not yet reached the threshold required for a pandemic emergency classification under the International Health Regulations (IHR).
The agency clarified that the current situation represents a severe international public health threat requiring coordinated cross-border response measures, but noted that it does not yet legally qualify as a pandemic event.
WHO warned that several early indicators suggest the outbreak may already be substantially larger than currently documented, heightening fears of wider regional transmission across Central and East Africa if containment efforts are not urgently strengthened.
“The high positivity rate of the initial samples collected (with eight positives among 13 samples collected in various areas), the confirmation of cases in both Kampala and Kinshasa, the increasing trends in syndromic reporting of suspected cases and clusters of deaths across the province of Ituri all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread,” WHO said.
WHO specifically identified worsening insecurity, population displacement, high levels of human movement and inadequate healthcare structures as key factors that could accelerate the spread of the disease.
The organisation stressed that the situation is especially concerning because existing Ebola vaccines and therapeutics currently available globally were primarily developed for the more common Zaire Ebola strain, not the rare Bundibugyo variant now circulating.
“However, unlike for Ebola-zaire strains, there are currently no approved Bundibugyo virus-specific therapeutics or vaccines. As such, this event is considered extraordinary,” the statement added.
The Bundibugyo ebolavirus remains one of the rarest Ebola species known to infect humans. Since its discovery, only two major outbreaks have previously been documented globally, the first in Uganda in 2007 and another in eastern DR Congo in 2012.
According to figures released by WHO, as of May 16, authorities had recorded eight laboratory-confirmed Ebola cases, 246 suspected infections and 80 suspected deaths across at least three health zones in Ituri Province, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.
The outbreak crossed international borders after two separate laboratory-confirmed cases, including one death, were identified in Kampala within a 24-hour period between May 15 and May 16. WHO noted that both infected individuals had travelled from DR Congo and had no known epidemiological connection to each other, raising concerns over undetected community transmission chains.
Further concern has emerged around possible healthcare-associated transmission after reports indicated that at least four healthcare workers died in circumstances consistent with viral haemorrhagic fever.
WHO warned that “significant uncertainties” still surround the actual scale and geographical spread of the outbreak, explaining that epidemiological investigations remain ongoing and that authorities are struggling to establish clear links between many reported infections.
The development has revived painful memories of previous Ebola crises across Africa, particularly the devastating West African Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016, which claimed more than 11,000 lives and severely disrupted economic activity across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
