How Ebola became the deadliest outbreak in DR Congo’s history

Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo – When three members of his hospital team died within days of treating the same patient, Dr Richard Lokudu suspected Ebola had been spreading before authorities detected the outbreak.

The patient had arrived at Mongbwalu General Hospital in Ituri Province for surgery in early April, weeks before the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) officially declared an Ebola outbreak.

“Before the outbreak was declared, we discovered at the hospital that there was a patient who had been admitted on 2 April and who was due to undergo surgery performed by our team on 7 April,” Lokudu told Al Jazeera.

“Almost a month later, we recorded the deaths of the surgical assistant, the anaesthetist, and a member of the post-operative care team.”

The deaths were among the first warning signs of an Ebola outbreak that would become the deadliest in the DRC’s history.

Three months after authorities declared the outbreak, more than 4,900 confirmed cases have been recorded, and more than 2,300 people have died, according to health authorities and international agencies.

The death toll has surpassed the previous record set during the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak, caused by the Zaire strain, which killed 2,299 people.

The current outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), a rare form of Ebola first identified in Uganda in 2007. Unlike the Zaire strain, for which vaccines and some treatments have been developed, there are currently no licensed vaccines or specific approved therapies for Bundibugyo.