The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) has launched an expanded investigation into the Bundibugyo Ebola variant driving the Democratic Republic of the Congo's outbreak, partnering with the country's National Institute of Biomedical Research to collect samples and share findings through a dashboard for aid workers in Bunia.
The initiative comes after the death toll surpassed 2,000 among 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record in the DRC. The Bundibugyo strain, which carries a case fatality rate of roughly 30 percent, has no approved vaccine or treatment, though the ITG this weekend enrolled its 100th patient in trials of existing medications.
The World Health Organization has confirmed the virus circulated undetected since February, three months before the mid-May declaration. Health workers currently reach only about 30 percent of those infected, WHO officials warned.