Africa CDC warns 10 countries at risk as Ebola spreads in Uganda

Containment is now the central test. Africa CDC said 10 countries were at high risk as the Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak pushed across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and into Uganda, where confirmed cases climbed to five after three more infections were reported on May 23.

The alarm reflects more than rising case counts. The World Health Organization said the DRC-Uganda event met the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, and Africa CDC followed on May 18 by declaring a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security. Both agencies stressed that Bundibugyo virus disease has no known vaccine or virus-specific therapy, leaving isolation, tracing and border surveillance as the main defenses.

The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15 in Ituri province, where WHO said that by May 16 there were 8 laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths across at least three health zones: Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the DRC tally at 10 confirmed cases, 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths by May 16, underscoring how quickly the numbers were changing as testing expanded. CDC also said this was the country’s second outbreak of Bundibugyo virus since 1976.

The outbreak’s cross-border spread has made control harder. WHO said the first imported Ugandan case was a 59-year-old Congolese man who died in Kampala after being admitted to Kibuli Muslim Hospital on May 11. It also reported two laboratory-confirmed cases, including one death, in Kampala within 24 hours on May 15 and 16 among travelers from the DRC. Uganda’s new cases on May 23 included a driver who transported the first confirmed patient and a health worker exposed while caring for that patient, a reminder of how quickly Ebola can move through contact chains.

Health officials are watching the same weak points that have complicated past outbreaks: conflict, population movement and difficult surveillance conditions in eastern Congo, where detection and contact tracing can lag. Fear is rising in communities near the epicenter, and health workers have already been among the early victims in Ituri, adding pressure to improve protection in clinics and treatment centers.

For neighboring systems, the warning is immediate. Africa CDC named Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia as high-risk countries. CDC said on May 23 that the overall risk to the American public and travelers remained low and that no U.S. cases had been confirmed, but the African response now depends on whether surveillance can outrun a virus that has already crossed a border.