Pins matching tag:Ebola

Eight months after the first cases in Guinea, the WHO declared the Ebola epidemic in West Africa a public health emergency of international concern. It became the largest Ebola outbreak in history: more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision released 70,000 Ervebo doses from the global Ebola stockpile to the DRC: 20,000 for a Phase 3 trial and 50,000 for frontline and health workers. WHO stresses it is not known whether Ervebo protects against Bundibugyo virus.

Africa CDC and WHO welcomed the end of Uganda's Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case, counted from the last imported patient's discharge on 16 July 2026. Uganda reported 20 confirmed cases (15 imported from DRC, 5 local), 18 recoveries and 2 deaths.

WHO's 25 September Disease Outbreak News reports the DRC outbreak spread to Bulu (Sud Ubangi, a new province) and Dungu (Haut-Uele, bordering South Sudan), for 63 health zones in seven provinces. As of 23 September the DRC had 7,890 confirmed cases including 3,799 deaths (CFR 48.1%).

The Tumaini Phase 2/3 ring-vaccination trial against Bundibugyo Ebola began in Bunia, DR Congo, on 23 October 2026, when the first participants were vaccinated with Ervebo. Two Bundibugyo-specific candidates from Oxford and Moderna are expected to join shortly.

WHO's IHR Emergency Committee on the Bundibugyo Ebola epidemic is due to reconvene, roughly three months after its 18 August meeting, to say whether the emergency still stands. WHO counts 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths in the DRC as of 23 September 2026.

The six-month joint Africa CDC and WHO continental Ebola preparedness and response plan, which sought US$518 million, covers June to November 2026 and so runs out at the end of November. Africa CDC's advisers still advise keeping the continental emergency in place.