Infrastructure Challenges Hamper Latest Ebola Outbreak in DRC
Ebola 08/09/2025 •
An Ebola responder in Butembo in the DRC’s North Kivu, during an outbreak in 2019.

The latest Ebola outbreak in Kasai province in southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being hampered by lack of instructure, including roads and transport.

Samples from the index case and five other suspected cases took eight days to get to the National Public Health Laboratory (INRB) in Kinshasa, only arriving on 3 September.

The index case, a pregnant woman, died on 25 August – five days after seeking care at Bulape General Hospital in Kasai province with a high fever, bloody diarrhoea, haemorrhage and extreme weakness. 

At least 15 people, including four health workers, have died in the latest Ebola outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Meanwhile, some 28 suspected cases are being investigated in the Bulape health zone in Kasai province, which borders Angola.

Two of the health-care workers that had initially been in contact with the index case also developed similar symptoms and died. According to unconfirmed reports, a third health worker and lab technician in contact with the woman also died.

The DRC Health Ministry declared an outbreak on 4 September after laboratory tests confirmed the Zaire strain of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from the six samples.

All six samples were confirmed by GeneXpert and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays.

“The results obtained from whole genome sequencing suggest that the outbreak is a new zoonotic spillover event and is not directly linked to the 2007 Luebo or 2008/2009 Mweka EVD outbreaks,” according to the WHO.

The DRC’s Ministry of Health, with support from WHO and partners, is implementing public health response measures to contain the outbreak. 

The WHO has assessed the national public health risk posed by the current outbreak as high.

The virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood or secretions of infected wildlife and then spreads through human-to-human transmission.

This is the sixteenth Ebola outbreak in the DRC since 1976. The last case was identified in 2022. A large outbreak in 2018-2020,  killed almost 2,300 people in North Kivu and Ituri.

Image Credits: UN Photo/Martine Perret.

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