Large Ebola Outbreak Is Declared in Congo

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Dozens of deaths and hundreds of infections are suspected, an African agency said. Health experts were alarmed that the outbreak hadn’t been announced sooner. Africa’s leading public health authority said on Friday that there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of infections suspected.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency of the African Union, said 65 deaths from Ebola had been reported in the northeastern province of Ituri, though only four had been definitively linked to the virus through laboratory testing. The agency said that 246 suspected infections had been reported in Ituri and that 13 had been confirmed.

The agency said it was working with Congo’s health ministry on a response to the outbreak. The results of tests to determine the specific species of the virus circulating in Ituri are expected within 24 hours, it said in a statement. It is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in Congo since the virus was first identified in 1976.

Some global health experts said they were alarmed that the first reports of the outbreak emerged so late in its development. “It’s pretty stunning to have first notice of an outbreak in D.R.C., which is very experienced, and have it be so large,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Outbreaks are typically picked up much earlier by the World Health Organization, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or by news reports, she said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/world/africa/congo-ebola-outbreak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ilA.fXJI.yZ9K-kJNiqtA&smid=url-share

Nice work, RFK Jr and TSF

[RussBLib]

1. Oh great

Nature has so many ways of killing us. Ebola is pretty horrible. Let’s hope it doesn’t come here, because with our current government, we would be sitting ducks.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

[RussBLib]

2. Link to good info on ebola

https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2014/09/22/all-about-ebola/#:~:text=Ebola%20is%20a%20very%20serious%20disease.%20Once%20diagnosed%2C%20it%20has%20about%20a%2050%25%20fatality%20rate%E2%80%94that%20means%20only%20half%20of%20the%20people%20who%20get%20the%20disease%20survive%20it.%20In%20some%20areas%2C%20the%20survival%20rate%20is%20as%20low%20as%2010%25.

[jmbar2]

3. I wish Dr. Fauci were still in charge instead of Brainworm.

He led the NIH through HIV, SARs, Ebola, and Covid.

In 2014, at a time when people were worried about whether the Ebola outbreak in West Africa would become a pandemic, Fauci helped treat and notably hugged a nurse who had been infected with the virus and hospitalized at the NIH. Fauci later said he did this to show his staff that he wouldn’t ask them to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself. That “extraordinary level of empathy” will be difficult to replace, Nuzzo says.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-reflect-on-anthony-faucis-impact/

[RockCreek]

4. The DRC, a recent destination for ICE 3rd country deportations.

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-04-21/colombians-stranded-in-congo-after-being-expelled-from-the-us-i-never-thought-i-would-get-to-know-africa-under-these-circumstances.html

[lastlib]

5. Has Mr.Brainworm called yet to let it spread?

for herd immunity, yunno.

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6. This is a deadly disease and its highly contagious.

Its impossible to overemphasize how important it is to get this contained early. Right now its just the Democratic Republic of Congo, but there is every reason to think it will spread.

American officials have said that aid cuts by the Trump administration hampered the ability of the authorities in Uganda to curtail an Ebola outbreak in that country early last year.

“It’s possible that we’re starting to see the consequences of severe and sudden cuts to global health programs that have eroded surveillance and allowed deadly viruses to spread undetected,” Dr. Nuzzo said.

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7. Death toll climbs to at least 80 in Congo Ebola outbreak

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — At least 80 deaths have been reported in Congo's new Ebola disease outbreak in the eastern Ituri province, authorities said, as health workers raced Saturday to intensify screening and contact tracing to contain the disease. Officials first announced the outbreak on Friday, with 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases.

Meanwhile, Associated Press journalists in Ituri's capital, Bunia, interviewed locals who recounted their fears and constant burials.

"Every day, people are dying ... and this has been going on for about a week. In a single day, we bury two, three, or even more people," said Jean Marc Asimwe, a resident of Bunia. "At this point, we don't really know what kind of disease it is," said Asimwe.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said late Friday that there have been eight laboratory-confirmed cases, among them four deaths.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/death-toll-climbs-to-at-least-80-in-congo-ebola-outbreak