The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed more than 2,000 people out of over 4,300 recorded cases, pushing the World Health Organization to warn the crisis is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West African outbreak, which claimed more than 11,000 lives. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the current pace threatens to eclipse that record, after the outbreak spread through one of Congo's most densely populated regions marked by armed conflict and heavy mining activity.
WHO officials now project the outbreak will peak within six months, though simultaneous containment measures could reverse the trajectory within three months. The epidemic, driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain for which no approved vaccine exists, was initially misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid while circulating undetected since February.
Meanwhile, Britain's MHRA has authorised the first human trials of an Oxford-developed Bundibugyo vaccine, and separate studies are testing monoclonal antibody treatments in affected areas.