The Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo has killed 2,325 people, government data showed, surpassing the toll from the 2018–2020 epidemic to become the deadliest in the country's history.
DRC's public health institute said in its latest report that confirmed cases had risen to 4,945, including 101 new cases detected in the previous 24 hours.
The outbreak, DRC's 17th, was already the biggest in the country's history by case numbers — a milestone reached in late July.
The latest government data shows that total deaths have surpassed the 2,299 fatalities recorded in the 2018–2020 outbreak.
Three months after its formal declaration, the epidemic is dwarfed only by West Africa's 2014–2016 outbreak, in which 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths were recorded across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organisation.
It took nearly five months for that outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, whereas DRC's current outbreak hit 2,000 deaths in less than three months.
No approved treatments
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has no approved vaccines or treatments.
The epidemic has gained momentum since it was declared on May 15, as weak health infrastructure, community resistance, and instability hinder efforts to identify and respond to cases.
The proportion of people dying after a confirmed infection, known as the case fatality ratio, has risen from about 20 percent in early June to 46 percent, meaning nearly one in every two confirmed cases is now fatal.
Experts say the trend does not indicate the virus has become more lethal, but points to persistent shortcomings in surveillance, case detection, and access to care.
"Normally, as an outbreak progresses, the case fatality ratio should fall as contact tracing improves and patients are identified and treated earlier," said Thomas Parisch, a public health specialist deployed to DR Congo with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
"Instead, we're still seeing many cases detected very late, when treatment is less likely to succeed, with many identified only after they die in the community."
A small number of experimental vaccines and therapies are being evaluated, while global health authorities assess whether existing Ebola treatments could offer protection.
The outbreak earlier spread to neighbouring Uganda, where authorities limited deaths to two and cases to 20 before declaring an end to the outbreak last month.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, living or dead.
It causes fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
