What to know
- CDC is responding to an outbreak of Ebola disease in remote areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
- To date, no cases of Ebola disease have been confirmed in the United States because of this outbreak.
- The overall risk to the American public and travelers remains low.
Background
In early May, a hospital in Bunia Health Zone in northeastern DRC identified a cluster of severe illnesses affecting healthcare workers. Initial samples tested in DRC were negative for Ebola virus, but later 8 out of 13 samples tested positive, and 5 were inconclusive. Using genetic fingerprinting, the illnesses were identified as Bundibugyo (Bun-dee-BOO-joh) virus, one of the 4 types of orthoebolaviruses that cause Ebola disease in people.
There is no vaccine for Bundibugyo virus, and treatment consists of supportive care. Patients have experienced classic Ebola disease symptoms like fever, headache, vomiting, severe weakness, abdominal pain, nosebleeds, and vomiting blood. In DRC, most cases to date have been in people between 20 and 39 years old, and two-thirds have been in female patients.
There have been 2 previous outbreaks of Bundibugyo virus, one in Uganda (2007) and one in DRC (2012), with death rates of 25% and 50%, respectively.
This is the 17th outbreak of Ebola in DRC since 1976. The most recent outbreak ended in December 2025.