Ebola outbreak declared a global emergency | What do we know about the latest outbreak? Xplained

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:01]WHO declares Ebola global health emergency.

[00:00:05]Rare Bundibugyo strain drives [music] new outbreak.

[00:00:10]More than 300 suspected cases reported.

[00:00:14]No approved vaccine for current strain.

[00:00:16][music] Is Africa facing a larger Ebola crisis?

[00:00:26]Hello and welcome. You're watching Explained with me, Ruby Balu.

[00:00:31]The world is on alert after the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on May the 17th, its highest level of global health alarm.

[00:00:47]The declaration has raised global concern as the virus has now crossed borders with confirmed cases reported in Uganda's capital, Kampala, and a new case detected in Goma, one of eastern Congo's largest cities located near the Rwandan border.

[00:01:01]The current outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a variant for which there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments.

[00:01:10]That has made this outbreak particularly alarming for global health authorities.

[00:01:17]There have been two previous outbreaks of Bundibugyo virus, one in Bundibugyo district of Uganda in 2007 and 2008, from which it got its name, and another in the 2012 in Isiro in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[00:01:33]So far, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths have been reported.

[00:01:43]The World Health Organization says the DRC's eastern Ituri province alone has reported 246 suspected cases and 86 and 80 deaths.

[00:01:53]Although the WHO says the outbreak does not currently meet the criteria of a COVID-style pandemic. It has warned that this may already be a much larger outbreak than what it is currently being detected.

[00:02:06]The high positivity rate in initial test samples and the rising number of suspected cases have deepened those fears.

[00:02:14]The current crisis marks the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country where the virus was first identified in 1976 when the country was still known as Zaire.

[00:02:27]The first known outbreak killed 280 of the 318 people infected.

[00:02:33]Since then, Congo has faced more than a dozen outbreaks, including the country's deadliest between 2018 and 2020, which killed more than 2,300 people.

[00:02:42]Over the last five decades, around 15,000 people have died from Ebola across Africa.

[00:02:49]Ebola is a severe and often fatal viral disease that originates in animals before spreading to humans. There are six known types of the Ebola virus under the genus Orthobolavirus that are the Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo, Taï Forest, Reston, and Bombali.

[00:03:10]The Zaire strain strain is the deadliest and caused the major West Africa outbreak between 2014 and 2016.

[00:03:18]Two vaccines approved for use only offer protection from the Zaire strain.

[00:03:23]Ervebo, developed by Merck and Company and administered one dose, is recommended for use in outbreaks and is currently the only vaccine available in the global stockpile.

[00:03:33]The other vaccine, Zabdeno and Mvabea, has been developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica and is administered in a two-dose regimen.

[00:03:42]The Sudan and the Bundibugyo strains have caused multiple outbreaks in Africa, including the current DRC-Uganda outbreak, which is linked to the Bundibugyo strain.

[00:03:51]Taï Forest is rare and was first identified in Côte d'Ivoire, while Reston has been found mainly in animals and has not caused known human deaths.

[00:04:02]The most recently discovered strain, Bombali, was found in West in bats in West Africa and has not yet been detected in humans.

[00:04:09]There are currently no vaccines licensed for other strains.

[00:04:14]Experts believe fruit bats are the natural reservoir of the virus.

[00:04:18]The Democratic Republic of Congo remains especially vulnerable because of its massive tropical rainforest, the second largest in the world after the Amazon.

[00:04:26]These dense forests, particularly in eastern and central Congo, create conditions where people often come into close contact with wild animals.

[00:04:34]Hunting, handling bush meat, collecting fruit, or contact with sick or dead animals can trigger what scientists call a spillover event. That is when the virus jumps from animals to humans.

[00:04:45]The virus can spread through contact with infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope, or porcupines found ill or dead in the rainforest.

[00:04:55]Once the virus enters the human population, it can spread rapidly through direct contact with infected bodily fluids. This includes blood, vomit, saliva, sweat, urine, semen, and other secretions.

[00:05:07]Contaminated objects such as bedding, clothing, or medical equipment can also spread spread the virus.

[00:05:13]People cannot spread Ebola before they show symptoms, but they remain infectious as long as the virus is present in their blood or bodily fluids.

[00:05:22]Health workers have often been infected while treating patients when strict protective measures were not followed.

[00:05:28]Traditional burial ceremonies involving direct contact with the body of a person who died from Ebola have also contributed to the spread of the disease in past outbreaks.

[00:05:39]The symptoms of Ebola usually begin suddenly. Patients may develop fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat. This is often followed by vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash, and organ failure.

[00:05:53]In some cases, internal and external bleeding can occur, including bleeding from the gums or nose, and blood in vomit and stool.

[00:06:01]However, health experts stress that bleeding is not always an early symptom.

[00:06:07]That makes Ebola harder to identify quickly, especially because early symptoms can look similar to malaria, typhoid, meningitis, or other viral fever illnesses common in the region.

[00:06:19]The World Health Organization has now urged countries to activate emergency response systems, expand cross-border screening, and increase monitoring along major transport routes.

[00:06:28]Rwanda has already tightened screening measures along its border with the DRC after a confirmed case was detected in Goma.

[00:06:36]Regional fears also grew after a man who had traveled from eastern Congo died from Ebola in Kampala.

[00:06:43]Tanzania has also stepped up surveillance, border screening, and emergency preparedness measures following an Ebola outbreak in the neighboring Congo.

[00:06:53]The World Health Organization has advised that people exposed to the Bundibugyo virus should not travel internationally unless they're part of a medical evacuation.

[00:07:02]Confirmed cases are being isolated immediately while contacts are monitored for 21 days, the known incubation period of the virus. At the same time, the World Health Organization has warned countries not to close their borders or halt trade out of fear.

[00:07:16]The agency says such steps could force people into informal and unmonitored border crossings, making the outbreak even harder to track.

[00:07:25]Although there is still no proven cure for Ebola, early supportive care can improve survival.

[00:07:30]This includes rehydration, oxygen support, and treatment of complications.

[00:07:35]The WHO estimates the average fatality rate of Ebola at around 50%, though some outbreaks have been far deadlier.

[00:07:44]The current outbreak is also drawing attention to growing concerns about the state of global health preparedness.

[00:07:52]Health experts have warned that cuts to international disease surveillance programs and reductions in foreign aid have weakened outbreak response capacity in some of the world's most vulnerable regions.

[00:08:02]The global emergency declaration now allows the WHO and international partners to unlock emergency funding, expand coordination, and speed up response operations.

[00:08:13]It is the first time since mpox in 2024 that the World Health Organization has issued its highest level of international health alert.

[00:08:22]For now, health officials stress that this is not a global pandemic on the scale of COVID-19.

[00:08:28]But with no proven vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain, confirmed gross cross-border spread, and growing concerns about under detection, global health authorities are racing to contain the virus before it escalates into a far bigger crisis.

[00:08:44]Congo has confronted more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks across the past half century and is widely regarded as one of the most experienced countries in the world in managing the disease.

[00:08:55]That's all we have time for on this episode of Explained. Stay tuned on News X World for more in-depth analysis.