Ebola outbreak death toll surpasses 5,300 in DR Congo
The death toll from the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Africa has climbed past 5,300, reaching 5,376 fatalities, according to data released on Monday by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The vast majority of deaths—5,372—have occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which declared its seventeenth and largest Ebola outbreak in mid-May. With a mortality rate exceeding 50 percent, the outbreak has infected approximately 10,444 people across the DRC, Uganda, and Kenya, underscoring the severe risks posed by this rare viral strain.
Cross-border transmission has prompted heightened surveillance across the continent and beyond. Kenya documented its first-ever Ebola cases in October, registering nine infections and two fatalities, while Uganda reported 20 cases linked to travel from the DRC before being declared Ebola-free in August, also with two recorded deaths. In Nigeria, tests on two suspected cases in the northeast returned negative following an imported case in Abuja in October, while France identified a single case in July involving a health worker returning from the DRC. Because there are no approved treatments or vaccines for the rare Bundibugyo strain, clinical trials have recently commenced with the Ervebo vaccine, which has proven effective against the Zaire strain.
Continue in the app — vote & join in ➔