Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Passes 10,000 Confirmed Cases

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 10,000 confirmed cases. Congo’s health ministry reported 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths, according to Al Jazeera, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists the same totals for Congo as of October 25.

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a less common relative of the Zaire strain behind most earlier large outbreaks. It was declared in mid-May and has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in Congo’s history. The CDC now describes it as the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, after the epidemic in West Africa from 2014 to 2016.

Nearly half of confirmed patients have died, according to the ministry. That is a high death rate, though the share of confirmed cases can be skewed by who gets tested, and early counts often fall short of the true toll.

The central difficulty is the lack of a licensed vaccine for this strain. Merck’s Ervebo, which helped control earlier outbreaks, is approved for the Zaire strain, not Bundibugyo. The World Health Organization sent 70,000 doses to Congo in August. About 50,000 were intended for frontline and health workers, and 20,000 were set aside for a clinical trial to test whether the vaccine offers protection against Bundibugyo. Vaccinations began on August 27 in Kisangani, according to the Associated Press.

Cases have also appeared outside Congo. The CDC reports nine confirmed cases in Kenya, all in Nairobi, and one in Nigeria, confirmed as the Bundibugyo virus. Uganda, which recorded 20 confirmed cases earlier in the outbreak, has reported no active cases since mid-July.

Counting an epidemic this large is itself a challenge. Figures differ slightly by source and date because of reporting lags; the CDC’s total across all affected countries, 10,091 confirmed cases and 4,891 deaths, is slightly higher than Congo’s own count, a gap that reflects where cases were recorded rather than any disagreement about the scale.

Some argue that using an unproven vaccine in an emergency is a reasonable risk when no alternative exists, and that rapid trials can generate evidence while protecting those most exposed. Others caution that a vaccine tested on a different strain may give false reassurance to health workers, who still need protective equipment and strict infection control.

Both points can be true. What is clear from the totals is that the outbreak is still growing, and that the response depends on money, trained staff, safe burials, contact tracing and trust in affected communities as much as on any vaccine. The next several weeks of trial data will show whether Ervebo offers any cross-protection.