Ebola fears soar in CongoExBulletin

Families of people who died of Ebola stand next to coffins at a health center in Rwanpara, Republic of Congo, Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

Moses Sawasawa/AP

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Moses Sawasawa/AP

BUNIA, EASTERN CONGO – Health workers in eastern Congo said Wednesday they are not adequately protected or trained as the rare Ebola virus spreads rapidly in one of the world’s most remote and vulnerable places.

Instability in the region, which has seen years of attacks by various armed groups, is currently further complicating efforts to address the crisis. At least 17 people were killed in an attack by Islamic State-linked extremists on Tuesday night in the village of Arima in Ituri province, a hotspot for the virus, local leaders said.

The World Health Organization said the global risk was low and that “case zero” had not been found.

“It’s really sad and painful, because we’re already going through a security crisis and now there’s an Ebola outbreak,” said Bunia resident Justin Ndasi.

Huge quantities of medical supplies are being flown into Bunia, where the first death was announced last week, but residents say masks are becoming harder to come by and the price of some disinfectants, which used to sell for 2,500 Congolese francs (about $1), has now quadrupled.

Mother watches as son ‘bleeds and vomits’

At a treatment center in Rwanpara, weeping families watched as medical workers in protective suits silently disinfected the bodies of their loved ones, believed to be Ebola victims, and placed them in coffins for safe burial.

They said the disease came on suddenly, the symptoms were mistaken for illnesses such as malaria, and it rapidly worsened.

“He told me he was heartbroken,” said Botwine Swanze, who lost her son. “He then started crying in pain. … Then he started bleeding profusely and vomiting.”

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spread to humans through contact with body fluids such as vomit, blood, and semen. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and sometimes internal or external bleeding.

WHO Director-General: ‘The scale of the epidemic is much larger’

The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern and is concerned about its “scale and speed.” The WHO Director-General for Congo said the situation could last at least two months.

A rare type of Ebola virus, known as Bundibugyo virus, spread undetected for several weeks after the first confirmed deaths, until authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus and found it negative.

Investigations into when and where the outbreak began are continuing, but “given its scale, we think it probably started several months ago,” said Anais Legan, head of WHO’s emergencies program.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that 51 cases had so far been confirmed in Congo’s northern Ituri and North Kivu provinces, and two in Uganda. There are 139 suspected deaths and approximately 600 suspected infections.

But “the scale of the epidemic is much larger,” he says.

The London-based MRC Global Center for Infectious Disease Analysis estimates that the number of cases has been significantly undercounted and that the real number may already be more than 1,000. “The true scale remains unclear,” the ministry said.

Map showing suspected Ebola cases as of May 18, 2026.

Will Jarrett/AP Photo

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Will Jarrett/AP Photo

This is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, and WHO said the country’s Ministry of Health has experienced staff and capacity to respond. However, most of the outbreaks were of the more common type of Ebola.

A potential vaccine is months away

WHO Special Adviser Dr Vathy Moorthy said a vaccine to combat Bundibugyo would not be available for at least six to nine months.

Dr. Livin Bangali, senior health coordinator for the International Rescue Committee for Congo, said eastern Congo was already facing “immense pressure from conflict, displacement and collapsed health systems,” adding that years of underfunding had weakened the response.

The current outbreak highlights the impact of the Trump administration’s drastic cuts in foreign aid. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his administration has made funding 50 emergency clinics in affected areas a priority. The United States has pledged $23 million.

Insecurity increases when there is little protection in affected areas

In Bunia, schools and churches remain open, although some residents wear masks. Elsewhere in Ituri, suspected Ebola patients are sharing a ward with other patients at Bamboo General Hospital.

Emergency program manager Trish Newport said a Médecins Sans Frontières team identified a suspected patient at Salama Hospital in Bunia over the weekend, but could not find an available isolation ward in the area.

“Every medical facility they called said, ‘We’re full of suspected patients. We don’t have space.'” This shows you how crazy things are right now,” she said on social media.

Civil society leader Cherubin Kuku Ndirawa said the border with nearby Uganda remained open and gold mining continued in Mombwal, where the first known dead body was taken.

“There is no panic. People are continuing with their normal lives, but they are also starting to disseminate information,” Ndilawa said, also noting the lack of public hand-washing stations.

Dr. Didier Pei said there were about 30 Ebola patients at Mombwar General Hospital, and a student at the local Institute of Medical Technology died on Wednesday.

“Patients are scattered all over the place,” said Dr. Richard Rokdu, the hospital’s medical director. “We hope to have proper triage and isolation facilities in place by today, but if that doesn’t happen, we will be completely overwhelmed.”

Rokdu said they were understaffed and untrained to deal with suspected cases, adding that “we have no protection” if cases spike.

“The situation is complex” in Goma, an Ebola-hit city controlled by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group, said Dr Anne Anthea, WHO representative in Congo.

American infected with Ebola is quarantined in Germany

German Health Ministry spokesman Martin Elsesser said the American who tested positive in Congo arrived in Berlin on Wednesday and was undergoing “comprehensive testing” in a special isolation ward.

Elsesser declined to comment on the patient’s condition because he has not been identified by German or U.S. authorities. The ministry later said it would take in the patient’s wife and three children at the request of U.S. authorities, without providing further details.

A senior health official in the Czech Republic said the country is hosting an American doctor who had treated Ebola patients in Uganda, but he has no symptoms. It is unknown whether anyone was infected.

Dr. Satish Pillai, Ebola response incident manager for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Wednesday that the Americans were being removed in coordination with the U.S. State Department and other agencies. One patient is in stable condition and is currently receiving treatment in Germany, Pillai said.

Asked whether the White House played a role in the decision to move Americans to Europe, Pillai said the decision was based on the situation on the ground and the need for rapid mobilization.