The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that the Ebola outbreak in Congo could spread as widely as the West Africa crisis in 2014 if patient isolation and treatment measures are ineffective.
On 6 June 2026, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called for urgent and intensive public health measures to control the Ebola outbreak in Congo, after their situational modeling indicated this outbreak could be as severe as the major West Africa epidemic between 2014 and 2016, which infected over 28,000 people and caused more than 11,000 deaths.
Jason Asher, director of CDC's outbreak forecasting and analysis center, said that such a high-level spread is possible if the disease is not controlled effectively. He noted that increased case detection, patient isolation, and rapid treatment could prevent the worst outcomes. However, controlling the outbreak might require resources and measures comparable to those used during the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.
The CDC's Ebola outbreak response team manager stated that it is currently unclear how many infected individuals need isolation and treatment, but field data indicates that patient isolation levels remain low.
On the same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa CDC announced the need for approximately 518 million US dollars—about 18.9 billion baht—within the next six months to address the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries.
This outbreak was officially declared on 15 May in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is believed that the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, a rare variant, had already been circulating for some time before the announcement.
According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, there have been 64 deaths and 381 confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak spans three provinces, with Ituri province as the main epicenter, accounting for 90% of confirmed cases and 76% of deaths. Meanwhile, in Uganda, which borders the affected area, there has been one death and 16 confirmed cases.
Source: AFP