CDC’s Ebola situation summary, headed October 5, 2026, puts the Bundibugyo outbreak at 8,463 confirmed cases and 4,082 confirmed deaths. Nearly all of them sit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which accounts for 8,442 cases and 4,080 deaths as of October 2. Uganda’s 20 cases and a single case in France make up the remainder.
The tally counts only laboratory-confirmed infections, and CDC lists zero probable cases or probable deaths for the DRC. Uganda carries one additional probable case and one probable death on top of its confirmed 20 cases and 2 deaths, a distinction that matters when CDC’s total is set beside counts from other agencies that sweep in suspected infections.
The CDC tally, country by country
CDC’s page breaks the total into three lines. The DRC holds 8,442 confirmed cases and 4,080 confirmed deaths. Uganda holds 20 confirmed cases and 2 confirmed deaths. France holds one confirmed case with no deaths. Adding the three gives 8,463 and 4,082, figures the agency states as its own total across all countries. Both cases outside the DRC are history in CDC’s account: the last confirmed case in Uganda recovered and left care on July 16, 2026, and the last case in France was released on July 4, 2026, so active transmission is concentrated in the DRC. The page also says the agency’s order covers travelers from affected countries, and its Uganda and South Sudan provisions are described below.
Weekly growth in the DRC
The UK Health Security Agency’s week-39 bulletin gives a snapshot five days before CDC’s cutoff. As of September 27 it reported 8,116 confirmed cases and 3,924 confirmed deaths in the DRC, including 343 new cases and 165 deaths in a single week. Set against CDC’s October 2 figures of 8,442 and 4,080, that is roughly 326 more confirmed cases and 156 more deaths in five days, although the two agencies compile their numbers separately and the comparison is approximate.
UKHSA says the cases span 63 health zones in seven provinces. Ituri province carries the bulk with 6,182 cases and 2,848 deaths, while North Kivu has recorded 1,541 cases and 914 deaths and is described as seeing escalating transmission. The agency calls this the largest recorded Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak and the second largest Ebola disease outbreak ever documented.
The earlier trajectory is steeper still. WHO’s Disease Outbreak News update dated August 1 listed 3,626 confirmed cases and 1,589 deaths, a 44 percent case fatality ratio, across 49 health zones in five provinces. WHO rated the risk very high in the DRC, high in Uganda and neighboring countries, and low globally. CDC’s current total is more than double that case count, and confirmed deaths have grown by roughly 2,490 over the same stretch.
A virus without a licensed vaccine
Bundibugyo is a different species of ebolavirus from the Zaire strain behind most previous large outbreaks. WHO’s August update states that no approved vaccines or specific treatments exist for it, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control noted when WHO declared the emergency on May 17, 2026 that licensed countermeasures for this virus are absent, unlike for Zaire ebolavirus. At that point WHO counted 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths, centered in Ituri. CDC says about 500 of its staff are working on the response, including more than 120 deployed to the affected countries.
CDC’s position on U.S. exposure
No Ebola cases associated with this outbreak have been reported in the United States, and CDC states that “the overall risk to the American public and travelers remains low.” The agency nonetheless enforces an entry order issued under 42 CFR 71.40. U.S. citizens and nationals who have been in the DRC within 21 days of their flight cannot board commercial flights with U.S. destinations, according to CDC’s returning-travelers guidance, and they must remain outside the country for at least 21 days after leaving the DRC.
Travelers who were in Uganda or South Sudan, and not the DRC, within 21 days are routed through designated airports for screening, including Washington Dulles, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and New York’s JFK. Screening there involves a temperature check, a short health questionnaire and enrollment in automated text messages that remind travelers to monitor their health for 21 days. Fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, headache, rash and unexplained bleeding are the symptoms CDC lists.
Because CDC revises its page as new reports arrive, the October 2 figures are a snapshot rather than a final count. UKHSA’s weekly jump of 343 confirmed cases is the most recent independent pace on record, and CDC’s own page does not publish a forecast.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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