WHO declares international emergency over Ebola outbreak hitting Democratic Republic of Congo

The situation is deteriorating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The World Health Organization (WHO) triggered its second highest level of international alert on Sunday May 17 in the face of an Ebola epidemic which, caused by a highly lethal variant without a vaccine, is hitting the DRC hard. According to a press release published on X by the WHO, the virus “constitutes a public health emergency of international concern [USPPI]but does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency”. The USPPI has been, since 2024, the second highest alert level of the WHO, behind that of“emergency due to a pandemic”.

Ebola, which causes an extremely contagious hemorrhagic fever, remains formidable despite recent vaccines and treatments, effective only against the Zaire strain which causes the largest epidemics recorded. The virus has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. In previous outbreaks, the disease’s fatality rate has fluctuated between 25% and 90%, according to the WHO.

The province of Ituri, in the northeast of the DRC, is hit by the Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, against which there is no vaccine. As of May 16, WHO has confirmed eight laboratory cases and recorded 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths in the province, as well as another confirmed case in Kinshasa and one death in Kampala, Uganda, among travelers who recently returned from Ituri. The African Union Health Agency, the Africa CDC, recorded 88 deaths likely due to the virus out of 336 suspected cases, according to the latest figures published on Saturday.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic is in an area that is difficult to access, few samples have been tested in the laboratory and the assessments are mainly based on cases of suspicion. Ituri, a gold-producing region bordering Uganda and South Sudan, is experiencing intense population movements linked to mining activity. Access to certain areas, plagued by armed violence, is difficult for security reasons.

“We have been seeing people die for two weeks”said Isaac Nyakulinda, a representative of civil society in the town of Rwampara (Ituri), contacted by AFP by telephone. “There is no place to isolate the sick. They die at home and their bodies are handled by members of their families”he continued, saying he feared the worst.