In rural Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a lethal Ebola strain has torn through local communities – claiming over 100 lives and triggering a global health emergency.

The virus was first discovered in the DRC in 1976, and remains an enduring threat. The central African nation has seen 17 outbreaks, more than any other country – a severe outbreak between 2018 and 2020 left 2,299 people dead.

Ebola, an often fatal virus that causes severe symptoms, including high fever and both internal and external bleeding, originates in wildlife. It is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood or fluids of infected forest animals, such as “fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates” like monkeys, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Once the virus enters a community, it spreads quickly between people through direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated surfaces.

The current outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain, a rare form of Ebola. Unlike the more common Zaire strain of the virus, the Bundibugyo variant currently lacks any approved vaccines or treatments.

Scientists believe humans first contracted Ebola by hunting, handling, or eating infected wild animals, collectively known as bushmeat. Such food – particularly bats, monkeys, grasscutters and antelopes – remains popular in the DRC, just one reason why Ebola remains a danger today.

The poison in the prey

The recurring outbreaks in the DRC are linked to its geography. Vast, dense forests cover more than 60% of the country’s landmass (over 150 million hectares), serving as a natural breeding ground for Ebola.

For many rural residents in the Congo Basin – the world’s second-largest rainforest – where bushmeat provides up to 80% of local protein intake, hunting wild meat is a matter of survival, not preference.

However, this vital food source serves as the primary gateway for deadly animal-to-human virus spillovers, according to Eteni Longondo, a former minister of public health in the DRC.

Longondo told CNN that regulating hunting in the country’s dense forests and preventing communities from consuming wildlife, particularly jungle carcasses, remains a significant challenge for health officials.

“It starts from the forest, and we don’t have any control there,” he said, noting that traditional hunting habits cannot be changed overnight.

“You cannot tell people to stop with their culture, and then they just stop right away. They are still eating them (wild meat) because they don’t have another alternative.”

The DRC is mineral rich but over 80% of its 100 million citizens live in extreme poverty. The situation is particularly grim in the east, where an active armed rebellion has allowed a powerful rebel coalition to seize vast territories, displacing millions and plunging the region into a severe food crisis.

On Thursday, the rebels confirmed an Ebola case in Bukavu, a city under their control in South Kivu province. They reported that the patient, a 28-year-old, had died and was buried safely. Additionally, the rebels announced that a separate case of Ebola was identified in Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, which they also occupy.

Rumors and rituals

The current Ebola outbreak primarily affects the eastern Ituri Province, located on the northeastern edge of the Congo Basin. According to WHO, the majority of cases are concentrated in the provincial capital of Bunia and the mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara.

The first suspected case involved a healthcare worker whose symptoms began on April 24 and who later died at a medical facility in Bunia, WHO reported. By May 5, the organization was notified of an “unidentified illness” associated with high mortality rates in the province. After an inquiry by a “rapid response team” on May 13, the outbreak was identified as the Bundibugyo virus on May 15.

The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, where health officials confirmed two laboratory-verified cases, including one death, in the capital city of Kampala. Both cases involved individuals who had traveled separately from the DRC, with no link between them, WHO stated.

“People are panicking,” said Valet Chebujongo, a community mobilizer based in Bunia. However, he told CNN the terror stems less from the virus itself but from a wave of misinformation and superstition, both of which fuel the virus’ spread and undermine local containment efforts.

“In Mongwalu, people are saying that there is a circulating (phantom) coffin that brings instant death by merely seeing it,” he said, explaining that rumors such as this are causing some to reject medical aid in favor of prayer, magic and traditional practices.

Compounding the crisis, Chebujongo noted that a local funeral custom involving mourners touching the deceased may have contributed to the rise of infections.

Baraka Nakashenyi, a resident of hard-hit Mongwalu, confirmed that this practice remains common despite the risks.

“Touching (the corpse) for the last time” is considered “the final farewell” for grieving relatives, Nakashenyi explained.

Many others are now “afraid to consume smoked bushmeat regardless of its origin,” Junior Kambale Bawili, another Bunia resident, said. Bawili told CNN that it was common to find specialized restaurants serving wild meat.

Bleak timeline

The rapid spread of the virus has caused international alarm.

Jeremy Konyndyk, who previously headed Covid-19 and disaster response efforts at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), suggested that “multiple generations of transmission” must “have already gone undetected” before the outbreak was officially confirmed, describing this as “a big, big problem.”

WHO warned that the rapidly spreading Bundibugyo Ebola strain “warrants serious concern” as the death toll rose to at least 139 deaths on Wednesday with nearly 600 suspected cases. However, the organization downplayed fears of global spread, stating that the risk of transmission is higher at the national and regional levels.

In response to the threat of transmission, the United States has imposed emergency travel restrictions on non-US arrivals from affected countries and South Sudan. Additionally, an infected American who tested positive for the virus in the DRC was flown to Germany for medical care.

Drawing from decades of refining its containment strategies, the DRC’s health ministry asserted that the country has “proven expertise” in managing Ebola.

“Declared sixteen times, conquered sixteen times. The 17th will be no different,” the ministry posted on X, stating their resilience.

However, former health minister Longondo offered a bleak timeline for containing the disease, citing his own experience managing a past outbreak that lasted for weeks. (CNN)

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