Bundibugyo virus outbreak explodes with 528 suspected cases and 132 deaths across Congo and Uganda; Spread of the disease likely went undetected for months.

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WHO spins scaled up response and contact tracing, hides tracking failures from local chaos…

Congo villages and Uganda border zones face unchecked spread as insecurity blocks full containment…

WHO confirms 528 total suspected cases and 132 deaths across the DRC and Uganda as of May 18, 2026…

Uganda reports 12 suspected cases, with two laboratory-confirmed positives, necessitating immediate cross-border tracking…

Field teams are currently monitoring 668 contacts, though insecurity in eastern DRC continues to shred follow-up capabilities…

Emergency response teams have deployed 38 specialists to Bunia to bolster local surveillance and case investigation…

Over 17 tons of critical medical supplies, including tents and specialized medicine, are now in the theater of operations…

Ebola outbreak may be spreading faster than first thought, WHO doctor warns

Ebola outbreak may be spreading faster than first thought, WHO doctor warns.

People living close to the epicentre of a deadly Ebola outbreak have told the BBC of their fear, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned cases may be spreading faster than originally thought.

One man in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s north-eastern Ituri province said infected people were dying “very fast”, adding: “Ebola has tortured us.”
The virus is believed to have killed 136 people in the DR Congo, officials say, with more than 514 cases now suspected in the country. One person has died in neighbouring Uganda.

The WHO’s Dr Anne Ancia told the BBC that the more the UN agency investigated the outbreak, the clearer it became that cases had spread to other areas.

Modelling by the London-based MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis released on Monday suggested there had been “substantial” under-detection, and that it could not rule out there had already been more than 1,000 cases.

The study suggested that the current outbreak was “larger than currently ascertained” and that its “true magnitude remains uncertain”.