Africa鈥檚 top public health body has confirmed in Ituri province, the 17th since the disease first emerged in the country in 1976.
A total of 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths in Congo have already been recorded in the new outbreak, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Friday.
In neighboring Uganda, an Ebola case has been confirmed in a man from Congo who died in a hospital in the capital, Kampala. Ugandan officials said the man was tested posthumously.
Here鈥檚 what to know about the health crisis:
The outbreak in Congo is in a remote locality
The suspected cases have mainly been recorded in Ituri’s Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
So far, only four of the deaths reported are laboratory-confirmed cases, but the new outbreak was confirmed after many suspected cases.
Ituri is in a remote eastern part of Congo with poor road networks, and is more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the nation鈥檚 capital, Kinshasa.
One major concern, the Africa CDC said, is the proximity of affected areas to Uganda and South Sudan. Bunia, Ituri’s main city, is near the border with Uganda.
The agency said there’s also risk of further spread due to intense population movement and attacks by armed groups that have killed dozens and displaced thousands in parts of Ituri province in the past year.
There are also gaps in contact tracing, the Africa CDC said, as local authorities race to find those who might have been exposed to the virus.
An unusual strain
Africa CDC said results so far suggest a variant of illness other than the Ebola virus, also known as the Ebola Zaire strain. It said sequencing is ongoing to further characterize the strain, with results expected within the next 24 hours.
The Ebola Zaire strain was prominent in 颁辞苍驳辞鈥檚 past outbreaks, including the 2018 to 2020 outbreak that killed more than 1,000 people.
The World Health Organization says the Ebola disease is caused by a group of viruses, and that three of them are known to cause large outbreaks: Ebola virus, Sudan virus and Bundibugyo virus.
WHO said during Congo’s Ebola outbreak last year that the country has a stockpile of treatments and some 2,000 doses of vaccine. However, the vaccine is for the Ebola virus, not the Sudan or Bundibugyo viruses.
Dr. Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health who has been involved in past Ebola outbreak responses in Congo, said treatments for viral infections like Ebola are often directed at symptoms and that efforts regarding vaccines would become clearer when the strain in the new outbreak is confirmed.
In Uganda, authorities said the case confirmed there was of the Bundibugyo virus, a strain that has been endemic to that country. However, health officials said the case was 鈥渋mported鈥� from Congo and that there had been no local cases detected.
Ugandan health officials said contacts linked to that case have been quarantined, including a high-risk contact who is a close relative of the deceased.
Urgent efforts to contain the outbreak
The Africa CDC convened an urgent high-level coordination meeting Friday with health authorities from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, together with key partners including U.N. agencies and other countries.
The meeting, the agency said, was set to focus on immediate response priorities, cross-border coordination, surveillance, safe and dignified burials and resource mobilization, among other areas.
Congo and health workers on the ground have a high level of experience from past outbreaks, in addition to existing infrastructure such as laboratories, Nsakala said. 鈥淣ow, the expertise and equipment need to be delivered quickly,鈥� he added.
Possible logistical challenges in Congo
Congo is Africa鈥檚 second-largest country by land area and often faces logistical challenges in responding to disease outbreaks due to bad roads and long distances.
During last year鈥檚 outbreak, which lasted three months, the WHO in delivering vaccines, which took a week after the outbreak was confirmed.
Funding has also been problematic. During last year’s outbreak, health officials were concerned about the impact of .
The U.S. had supported the response to 颁辞苍驳辞鈥檚 past Ebola outbreaks, including in 2021 when the U.S. Agency for International Development provided up to $11.5 million to support efforts across Africa.
How Ebola is transmitted
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be transmitted to people from wild animals. It then spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing contaminated with these fluids.
The disease it causes is a rare but severe 鈥� and often fatal 鈥� illness in people. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.
The virus was first discovered in 1976, near the Ebola River in what is now Congo. The first outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests.
鈥斺赌�
Saleh Mwanamilongo in Bonn, Germany, contributed.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
