In rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a deadly strain of Ebola is ravaging communities, killing more than 100 people and causing a global health emergency.
The virus was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976 and remains a persistent threat. The Central African country has had 17 outbreaks, more than any other country, and suffered from severe outbreaks between 2018 and 2020, resulting in 2,299 deaths.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a highly lethal virus that causes severe symptoms such as high fever and internal and external bleeding, and it originates from wild animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood or body fluids of infected forest animals, including monkeys, “fruit bats, porcupines, and non-human primates.”
Once the virus enters a community, it spreads rapidly between people through direct contact with body fluids and contaminated surfaces.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, a rare form of Ebola. Unlike the more common Zaire virus strain, the Bundibugyo variant currently has no approved vaccine or treatment.
Scientists believe humans first became infected with Ebola by hunting, handling or eating infected wild animals, collectively known as bushmeat. Such foods, especially bats, monkeys, grasshoppers, and antelope, remain popular in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is just one reason why Ebola remains dangerous today.
Recurring outbreaks in the DRC are related to its geography. Vast, dense forests cover more than 60% of the country’s land area (more than 150 million hectares) and are a natural breeding ground for Ebola.
For many rural residents of the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest, hunting wild meat is a matter of survival rather than preference, as up to 80% of local protein intake comes from bushmeat.
But according to Eteni Longondo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s former public health minister, this important food source is the main entry point for the deadly animal-to-human virus.
Longondo told CNN that regulating hunting in the country’s jungles and preventing communities from consuming wild animals, especially jungle carcasses, remains a major challenge for health authorities.
“It starts in the forest, over which we have no control,” he said, noting that traditional hunting practices cannot be changed overnight.
“You can’t tell people to give up their culture, and they do it right away. They still continue to eat wild meat because they have no other alternatives.”
Although DRC is rich in minerals, more than 80% of its 100 million people live in extreme poverty. The situation is particularly dire in the east, where an active armed insurgency has led to a powerful rebel coalition occupying vast swaths of territory, displacing millions of people and plunging the region into a severe food crisis.
On Thursday, rebels confirmed an Ebola case in Bukavu, a city they control in South Kivu province. They reported that the 28-year-old patient had died and was safely buried. The rebels also announced that another Ebola case has been confirmed in Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which they also occupy.
rumors and rituals
The current Ebola outbreak primarily affects eastern Ituri province, located on the northeastern edge of the Congo Basin. According to the WHO, most of the cases are concentrated in the provincial capital Bunia and the mining towns of Monwar and Rwanpara.
The first suspected case was a health worker who started showing symptoms on April 24 and later died at a health facility in Bunia, WHO reported. By May 5, the organization was notified of an “unidentified disease” linked to high mortality rates in the state. After an investigation by the Rapid Response Team on May 13, the source of the outbreak was identified as Bundibugyo virus on May 15.
The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, where health authorities confirmed two laboratory-confirmed cases (including one death) in the capital Kampala. Both cases involved individuals who had traveled outside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and there was no link between them, WHO said.
“People are panicking,” said Valet Chebujongo, a community activist based in Bunia. But he told CNN that the fear stems not from the virus itself, but from a wave of misinformation and superstitions that are fueling its spread and undermining local containment efforts.
“People say that in Monwar there is a circulating (phantom) coffin that brings instant death just by looking at it,” he said, explaining that such rumors lead some people to refuse medical assistance in favor of prayer, magic and traditional practices.
Chebujongo said local funeral customs, in which mourners touch the deceased, may have contributed to the spread of the infection, exacerbating the crisis.
Baraka Nakasheni, a resident of hard-hit Monwar, acknowledged that the practice remains common despite the risks.
Nakasheni explained that for grieving relatives, “touching[the body]for the last time” is seen as a “final farewell.”
Many others are now “afraid to consume smoked bushmeat, regardless of its origin,” said Junior Kambale Bawiri, also a Bunia resident. Bawili told CNN it’s common to find specialty restaurants that serve wild meat.
The rapid spread of the virus has caused international alarm.
Jeremy Konyndyke, the former head of COVID-19 and disaster response at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), called this a “big, big problem”, suggesting that “multi-generational transmission” must have “already gone undetected” before the outbreak was officially confirmed.
The WHO has warned that the fast-spreading Bundibugyo Ebola strain “deserves serious concern” as the death toll reached at least 139 on Wednesday and nearly 600 people are suspected of being infected. However, the group downplayed concerns about a global spread, saying the risk of infection was higher at the national and regional level.
In response to the threat of infection, the United States has imposed emergency travel restrictions on non-American arrivals from affected countries and South Sudan. Additionally, an infected American who tested positive for the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was flown to Germany for treatment.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Health claimed the country has “proven expertise” in managing Ebola after decades of refining containment strategies.
“16 times declared, 16 times conquered. The 17th time is no exception,” the ministry wrote in a post to X, noting its resilience.
But former Health Minister Rongondo laid out a strict timeline for containing the outbreak, citing his own experience managing previous outbreaks that lasted several weeks.
“The epidemic will continue for several months,” he told CNN.
