Global health authorities are urgently considering whether experimental vaccines and treatments can be deployed to fight a rapidly growing Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the World Health Organization warns the epidemic is escalating at an alarming pace.

The WHO is urgently reviewing experimental vaccines and treatments as a fast-moving Ebola outbreak spreads across eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.More than 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths have been recorded, with officials warning the real toll may be significantly higher.The outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which currently has no approved vaccine or treatment.Conflict, mass displacement and fragile healthcare systems are raising fears that the virus could spread further across Central and East Africa.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak has already reached more than 500 suspected cases and at least 130 suspected deaths, more than double the figures initially reported when the outbreak was publicly announced days ago.

“This is the first time a director general has declared a PHEIC before convening an emergency committee,” Tedros said, referring to the WHO’s declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. “I did not do this lightly … I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic.”

The outbreak is centered in the conflict-hit provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, regions already struggling with armed violence, weak healthcare systems and large-scale displacement.

Health officials fear those conditions could make containment far more difficult than in previous outbreaks.

The current outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare form of the virus first identified in Uganda in 2007.

Unlike the Zaire strain, which caused several previous Ebola epidemics in Congo and West Africa, there are currently no approved vaccines or treatments specifically designed for Bundibugyo Ebola.

That has pushed the WHO, Africa CDC and global health experts into urgent discussions over whether experimental countermeasures or vaccines developed for other Ebola strains could still offer partial protection.

A WHO-led panel of experts met this week to assess potential vaccine and treatment options, including Merck’s Ervebo vaccine, which was originally developed for the Ebola Zaire strain.

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While the vaccine is not approved for Bundibugyo Ebola, some animal studies have suggested it may provide limited cross-protection.

Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, has already positioned around 2,000 doses in Congo in case authorities approve emergency clinical use or trials.

Dr Mosoka Fallah, acting director of science at Africa CDC, said scientists are reviewing available evidence before advising governments in Congo and Uganda on the best approach.

“When you have an outbreak with a strain that does not have countermeasures, we are going to advise on the best approach to take,” he said.

WHO officials say the full scale of the outbreak remains uncertain because laboratory testing capacity in affected areas is limited and symptoms initially resembled other common illnesses such as malaria and typhoid.

Only about 30 cases have so far been laboratory confirmed, according to WHO representative in Congo Dr Anne Ancia, but she warned that the outbreak may be significantly larger than current figures suggest.

“We have significant uncertainty about the number of infections and how far the virus has spread,” she said.

Health officials say confirmed cases have already spread beyond Ituri into the eastern cities of Butembo and Goma in North Kivu province.

Uganda has also confirmed imported infections linked to the outbreak, raising fears of wider regional transmission.

The International Rescue Committee warned that neighbouring South Sudan could also face spillover infections because of porous borders and fragile healthcare infrastructure.

Dr Mesfin Teklu Tessema, the aid group’s senior director of health, described current known infections as “the tip of the iceberg”.

The outbreak is unfolding in one of the world’s most fragile humanitarian environments.

According to the UN refugee agency, more than two million displaced people and returnees live across the affected provinces, while renewed fighting in eastern Congo has displaced over 100,000 people in recent months alone.

Tedros warned that the worsening security crisis could severely undermine efforts to track and isolate infections.

“Conflict has intensified since late 2025, and the fighting has escalated significantly over the past two months,” he said. “And in Ebola outbreaks, you know what displacement means.”

Aid groups say years of violence have already weakened hospitals and clinics across eastern Congo, leaving health workers without enough protective equipment and communities with limited access to healthcare.

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“The fact is the system is broken and the community is not able to access any type of health care,” said Dr Maria Guevara, international medical secretary at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Health officials believe the outbreak may have started after funeral rites for a victim in the mining town of Mongbwalu in Ituri province.

WHO officials said local testing initially failed to identify the virus because available rapid tests were primarily designed to detect the more common Zaire Ebola strain.

The delay allowed infections to spread before the Bundibugyo strain was eventually confirmed through laboratory analysis in Kinshasa.

Scientists who analysed the virus genome say the outbreak likely began through a “spillover event”, meaning transmission from an infected animal to a human before spreading between people.

David Matthews, professor of virology at the University of Bristol, said that finding could help containment efforts because it suggests the outbreak may have originated from a single transmission chain rather than repeated animal infections.

The WHO has now deployed more than 40 experts to the affected areas and delivered 12 tonnes of emergency medical supplies, including protective gear, testing kits and infection-control equipment.

Still, officials warn the outbreak could take months, or even years, to fully contain.

“I don’t think that in two months we will be done with this outbreak,” Ancia said, recalling Congo’s 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic, which killed nearly 2,300 people and took almost two years to end despite the availability of vaccines.

That epidemic became the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history after the 2014-2016 West Africa crisis that killed more than 11,000 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and exposed major weaknesses in global outbreak preparedness.

The DRC has recorded 17 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified near the Ebola River in 1976, making it one of the countries most frequently affected by the disease.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected body fluids and can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe internal or external bleeding.

According to the WHO, fatality rates in previous outbreaks have ranged from 25% to 90%, depending on the strain and access to treatment.

Health officials are also focusing heavily on public awareness campaigns, warning that mistrust, misinformation and fear could become major obstacles if communities begin hiding cases or avoiding treatment centres.

“If we use coercive measures and the population does not agree, we will see bodies disappear,” Ancia warned. “We will see suspected cases refusing to come to hospitals and health facilities.”