The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international health emergency after an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed more than 80 lives

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 people, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it an international health emergency on Sunday amid warnings that no vaccine exists for the strain involved.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever had been recorded as of Saturday.

The Geneva-based WHO said the outbreak, linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, constituted a “public health emergency of international concern” — the second-highest alert level under international health regulations.

The UN health agency warned that the actual number of infections and the extent of the spread remain unclear, though it stopped short of declaring a pandemic emergency, the highest alert level introduced in 2024.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was preparing a “large-scale response,” describing the rapid spread of the virus as “extremely concerning” — a warning echoed by health authorities.

“The Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine and no specific treatment,” DR Congo’s Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said, adding that the strain can have a fatality rate of up to 50 percent.

The Bundibugyo strain, first identified in 2007, has also claimed the life of a Congolese national in neighbouring Uganda, officials said on Saturday.

Vaccines are currently available only for the Zaire strain of Ebola, first identified in 1976, which carries an even higher fatality rate of between 60 and 90 percent.

Health officials confirmed the latest outbreak on Friday in Ituri province in northeastern DR Congo, which borders Uganda and South Sudan, according to Africa CDC.

“We’ve been seeing people die for the past two weeks,” local civil society representative Isaac Nyakulinda told AFP by phone.

“There is nowhere to isolate the sick. They are dying at home and their bodies are being handled by family members,” he added.

According to Health Minister Kamba, the first known patient was a nurse who arrived at a health facility in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, on April 24 with symptoms consistent with Ebola.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, vomiting and haemorrhaging.

“The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short period, combined with the spread across several health zones and now across the border, is extremely concerning,” said Trish Newport, Emergency Programme Manager at MSF, which is mobilising medical and support teams to the affected area.

Efforts to contain the outbreak face major logistical challenges in DR Congo, a vast country of more than 100 million people with limited transport and communications infrastructure.

Officials warned there was a high risk of the virus spreading further.

“There are significant uncertainties regarding the true number of infected people and the geographic spread,” WHO said.

However, the organisation added that the high positivity rate in initial samples, confirmed cases in two countries, and the growing number of suspected infections “all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread.”

The latest outbreak is the 17th Ebola epidemic recorded in DR Congo. The previous outbreak, declared in the central region last August, killed at least 34 people before being officially declared over in December.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country occurred between 2018 and 2020, when nearly 2,300 people died.

Ebola, believed to originate in bats, can cause severe bleeding and organ failure. Over the past 50 years, outbreaks across Africa have recorded fatality rates ranging from 25 to 90 percent, according to WHO.

The virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids or blood from infected individuals, who become contagious only after symptoms appear. The incubation period can last up to 21 days.