GOMA — The Democratic Republic of the Congo is responding to its seventeenth Ebola outbreak in the past 50 years, with more than 500 suspected cases and more than 130 deaths recorded, according to the Congolese Ministry of Health. The first cases were reported in Mongbwalu, in Ituri province, Congolese authorities said.

Africa CDC experts arrived in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, to strengthen the response to the epidemic. The team includes field epidemiologists and specialists in data collection, risk communication, and community mobilisation.

"Our surveillance system failed during this Ebola outbreak. But we have experience in this area, and we will get it under control." virologist Jean Jacques Muyembe said.

Among those affected is Sadiki Patrick, 40, who lost his 15-year-old daughter Judith to Ebola in Mongbwalu. Patrick and the rest of his family tested negative for the virus.

The country has recorded an average of one Ebola outbreak every three years. The tenth outbreak, of the Zaire strain, affected North Kivu and Ituri provinces between 2018 and 2020, killing more than 2,300 people. In December 2025, the DRC announced the end of its sixteenth Ebola outbreak in the Bulape region.

Congolese doctor Francine Mbona Pendeza cited food practices, water access, and healthcare gaps as factors behind repeated epidemics. "Our people are used to eating raw or undercooked food. We grill meat that isn't cooked through, which allows germs to thrive and causes outbreaks. Another factor is access to clean water, which is dire in the DRC." she said.

Pendeza also described barriers to medical care in remote regions. "To find a hospital, especially in remote areas, you have to travel many kilometres. And sometimes, you might reach a hospital only to find unqualified staff." she said.

Greg Ramm, a DRC country director, described the conditions facing the response effort. "The Ebola outbreak is a new massive crisis on top of an already difficult situation, with a unique set of circumstances making this outbreak much harder to contain than recent ones." he said. "It is in an area of conflict, an area of humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands displaced, and healthcare systems already severely compromised." Ramm added.