Staff Reporter
TWO of Namibia’s neighbours, Angola and Zambia, have been listed among 10 African countries at risk of Ebola exposure as an outbreak spreads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the 10 at-risk countries are South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, and Zambia.
The DRC is the epicentre of the outbreak. According to the World Health Organization, about 750 suspected Ebola cases and 177 deaths have been recorded in the DRC, where the epidemic “is spreading rapidly.”
The May 2026 outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. There is no vaccine for this strain, and mortality rates can reach up to 50%.
Kaseya said this is the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak and “the second largest we know of in the world.” With no vaccine or approved treatment for Bundibugyo, containment depends on barrier measures and rapid case detection.
Ebola causes fatal haemorrhagic fever. The virus has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years but is less contagious than Covid-19 or measles.
Photo: AFP
