Authored by Alefiya Neemuchwala Oct 13th
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is more than 9000 and confirmed deaths as of Oct 13th 2026 is 4381. This outbreak caused by the Orthoebolavirus bundibugyoense (Bundibugyo strain of Ebola) arose in May 2026 and affects other countries including Kenya, Uganda and France. This outbreak is spreading faster than previous outbreaks and this is the 17th outbreak reported in DRC.
Ebola symptoms appear 2 to 21 days post-exposure and mostly start as dry symptoms of fever, aches, severe headaches, sore throat but on the 4th to 5th day of illness, the symptoms progress to unexplained bleeding accompanied with gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting.
So why is this challenging for World Health Organization and local health authorities to contain this outbreak. The reasons cited include limited resources, ongoing conflicts, violence, population movement and lack of trust in the government. There is no licenced vaccine yet
The 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak in West Africa, caused 11,000 deaths and affected 28,600 people across Guinea, Liberia and SierraLeone. This 2014-2016 outbreak was caused by a different strain -Orthoebolavirus zairense and ERVEBO vaccine was developed as counter measure. Ervebo developed by Merck is effective against E. Zairense and not E. Bundibugyoense. c uses a modified vesicular stomatitis virus to deliver the glycoprotein of Ebola virus. The vaccine stimulates an immune response against this viral surface protein, helping protect people if they later encounter the targeted virus.
Bundibugyo virus has a different glycoprotein. Some antibodies or immune responses may recognize related viruses, but cross-protection cannot be assumed. Moderna’s mRNA-1469 has developed a mRNA vaccine against Bundibugyo virus and got Health Canada approval for Phase I trial on July 30 2026. University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India have developed and manufactured nearly 10,000 units of ChAdOx1 BDBV vaccine and is undergoing Phase I trial. Janssen's Zabdeno/Mvabea regimen had European authorization from 2020, but that authorization was withdrawn on May 1, 2026, at the company's request for commercial reasons. The product was not a licensed Bundibugyo-specific vaccine. The University of Texas Medical Branch and CEPI are using the rVSV vaccine platform to develop their next vaccine.
Experts state that the chances of Ebola becoming the next pandemic remain extremely low.