The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has blamed the rapid spread of Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to delayed detection, diagnostic challenges, insecurity and mistrust among affected communities.
Prof. Yap Boum II, Head of Emergency Preparedness and Response at Africa CDC, disclosed this on Thursday, during a webinar on the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the country.
Boum said the outbreak involved the Bundibugyo virus, a less commonly detected Ebola species, rather than the Zaire strain that has been associated with most previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC.
According to him, diagnostic kits available in eastern DRC initially could not detect the Bundibugyo virus.
He said the diagnostic gap allowed the disease to spread for months before laboratory confirmation triggered a full-scale response.
Boum said the outbreak was officially detected and declared on May 15, nearly five months after transmission had started in the affected region.
He said the delay contributed to the rapid escalation of the outbreak from just eight cases recorded in three health zones to more than 2,000 cases across 46 health zones.
The outbreak has since spread to 63 health zones across seven provinces, according to the Africa CDC official, making it the largest Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC.
Boum identified insecurity and poor access to some communities in eastern DRC as additional obstacles to containing the disease.
He said the security situation had hampered active case searches, contact tracing and the ability of response teams to reach affected communities.
Community mistrust also complicated containment efforts, he said, forcing health authorities and response partners to intensify community engagement and expand community-based response activities.
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The Africa CDC official said the current outbreak was different from previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC because of the virus species involved, insecurity, limited accessibility and concerns among affected communities.
He warned that the outbreak highlighted the need for stronger diagnostic preparedness, particularly for less common pathogens that may circulate undetected before laboratory confirmation.
Boum called for increased resources and political support to strengthen the response and enable health workers to safely access affected communities.
He stressed that controlling the outbreak would require more than financial resources, saying security, community cooperation and access to affected areas were equally critical to stopping transmission.
