On 4 September 2025, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Public Health formally declared an Ebola outbreak in the Bulape health zone of Kasai Province. This marks the 16th such outbreak in the DRC since the virus was first identified there in 1976. As of 7 October, authorities report 64 cases classified as confirmed or probable, among which there have been 43 deaths. The CDC cautions that these figures are provisional and may be updated as the situation evolves.
Ebola remains a significant threat in Africa, and outbreaks are common and frequent. This knowledge community is here to connect research teams with each other and to share resources, methods, training and recommendations from their research.
Between 2014 and 2016, West Africa experienced the largest outbreak since the discovery of the disease in 1976, resulting in more cases and deaths than all other previous outbreaks combined.
On August 1st 2019, it was officially declared that an Ebola outbreak was occurring in North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There have been over 2,500 confirmed cases, and health workers are battling to keep the disease contained. This is being classed as aPublic Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by WHO and is the second largest outbreak since the one in 2016. The WHO Director-General declared the end of the PHEIC for this event on 26 June 2020.
General information: Resources providing an overview of the Ebola virus and the current outbreak
The WHO gives an overview of the Ebola virus by providing information on symptoms, treatment and prevention. Fact sheets, training and guidance are also linked for health workers.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention presents data on the latest Ebola outbreaks as well as diagnostics, treatment, transmission and prevention.
The British Medical Journal offers a comprehensive overview on the Ebola virus epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up through a variety of resources.
Get to know about the key facts of the disease from transmission, symptoms to diagnosis. Read the Ebola fact sheet
Optimised supportive care for Ebola virus disease: clinical management standard operating procedures
Building on evidence-informed guidelines created by a multidisciplinary panel of health care providers with experience in the clinical management of patients with EVD, this guidance should serve as a foundation for oSoC that should be followed to ensure both the best possible chance for survival and allow for reliable comparison of investigational therapeutic interventions as part of a randomised controlled trial. This guideline provides recommendations for the management of adults and children. Access the clinical management SOPs
Safety of two Ebola virus vaccines
Read about Merck's rVSV-ZEBOV-GP vaccine, which was recently conditionally approved by the European Commission and pre-qualified by WHO, used according to the SAGE recommendation for expanded access in a ring vaccination strategy. Read about the Ebola vaccines here
Personal protective equipment for use in a filovirus disease outbreak: rapid advice guideline
Learn more about the guidelines on personal protective equipment for use in a filovirus disease outbreak. Read the PPE guidelines here
Framework and toolkit for infection prevention and control in outbreak preparedness, readiness and response at the national level
The framework and toolkit described here target the prevention and control of communicable diseases with community outbreak potential, which may be amplified in the health care setting; this includes diseases transmitted via contact (blood and bodily fluids), droplets or airborne. Access the toolkit here
International Classification of Diseases - 11th edition (ICD-11 2022 release)
The eleventh revision of the ICD contains around 17,000 unique codes, and more than 120,000 codable terms and is now entirely digital. Read the classification document here
New filovirus disease classification and nomenclature
The recent large outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Western Africa resulted in greatly increased accumulation of human genotypic, phenotypic and clinical data, and improved our understanding of the spectrum of clinical manifestations. As a result, the WHO disease classification of EVD underwent a major revision. Read the filovirus classification document here
Uganda Reported an Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uganda declared an Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) outbreak in Mubende district in the central part of the country, following a confirmed case in Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. Read the article
Communique of The High-Level Emergency Ministerial Meeting on Cross Border Collaboration for Preparedness and Response to Ebola Virus Disease
The Ministers of Health of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Regional Economic Communities and partners, meeting in Kampala, Uganda on 12 October 2022; commended Africa CDC, WHO, Regional Economic Communities and other partners for their support to EVD preparedness and response, including cross-border collaboration and collectively, resolved and committed their governments and institutions. Read the document
WHO Africa Online Briefing - 06/10/2022
The WHO Regional Office for Africa held a virtual press briefing on 6th October 2022 about the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other health issues in Africa. This briefing was livestreamed on YouTube as well as on the WHO Africa Twitter and Facebook accounts. The briefing was also posted on YouTube. Read the briefing paper
This online health literacy course will explain what the Ebola virus is, where the outbreak has occurred, what the signs and symptoms of infection are, how to treat an infection and how to avoid infection
Ethical Responses to Ebola: applying lessons learned
This seminar was chaired by Ross Upshur, featured panellists Gloria Mason Ross, David K. Kaawa-Mafigiri, and Jerome Singh, and looked at how lessons from previous Ebola outbreaks can contribute to embedding ethics in responses to the current and future Ebola outbreaks.
