The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026, as a rapidly expanding outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus tore through the Democratic Republic of the Congo and spilled into neighboring Uganda. As of June 21, 2026, the DRC Ministry of Health had recorded 1,003 confirmed cases and 254 confirmed deaths in the country. Uganda had reported 20 confirmed cases and 2 confirmed deaths as of June 22, 2026, according to WHO Disease Outbreak News report 2026-DON607.

The totals place this event second only to the 2014–2016 West African epidemic — which killed more than 11,300 people across Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia — in the history of Ebola outbreaks. But the trajectory of the current outbreak is, by one critical measure, worse than any predecessor: CDC and WHO have noted that case accrual has been faster for this outbreak than for any prior Ebola event on record.

The DRC is no stranger to Ebola; this is the country’s seventeenth declared outbreak. What distinguishes the 2026 event is the viral species at its center. Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) caused two previous, far smaller outbreaks — Uganda in 2007–2008, and DRC’s Orientale Province in 2012 — and has never before triggered a PHEIC. Critically, the Bundibugyo strain sits outside the reach of Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV), the only licensed Ebola vaccine, which is indicated solely against Zaire ebolavirus. WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization has explicitly stated it does not recommend Ervebo outside controlled research settings for this outbreak. No licensed vaccine and no approved specific treatment exist for Bundibugyo virus disease; clinical management relies on supportive care, isolation, and contact tracing.

Ituri Province in northeastern DRC is the epicenter, with 916 confirmed cases across 22 health zones; North Kivu has logged 84 confirmed cases across 11 health zones, and South Kivu has reported 3 cases. The geographic spread across multiple provinces and an international border underscores the operational challenge facing response teams.

In the United States, CDC issued a Health Alert Network notice (HAN 00530) to alert clinicians and public health practitioners. A formal risk assessment published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR, Vol. 75, No. 22) rated the risk to the general U.S. population as low, contingent on sustained public health resources controlling the outbreak at its source.

On June 21, 2026, CDC renewed a 30-day public health entry restriction under Title 42 authority, barring specified foreign nationals who have been present in DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan within the prior 21 days from entering the United States. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents traveling from those countries are not barred but are subject to enhanced public health screening upon arrival. Air travel for affected individuals is rerouted through four designated U.S. airports — Washington-Dulles (IAD), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL), George Bush Intercontinental Houston (IAH), and John F. Kennedy New York (JFK) — where enhanced screening infrastructure is in place.

Public health officials in the United States emphasize that domestic transmission risk remains extremely low and that existing hospital infection-control capacity would contain any imported case. The outbreak’s severity is concentrated in a region where surveillance infrastructure, isolation capacity, and community trust in health workers remain severely strained.