Ebola Outbreak Spreading Faster Than Response, Aid Group Says

The World Health Organization’s director-general also said the epidemic ‘is outpacing us.’

The coffin of a person suspected of having died from Ebola is tied onto a pick up truck by health workers at a hospital in Bunia, Congo, on May 25, 2026. Glody Murhbazi/AFP via Getty Images

The Ebola outbreak in Africa could become the deadliest in history because it is spreading faster than responders can deal with it, an aid group said on May 26.

Officials failed to initially detect the outbreak due to a lack of testing sufficient to identify the Bundibugyo virus, a rarer type of virus that causes Ebola. The outbreak is centered in the Ituri province in the northeast of Congo, also known as the DRC, where fighting regularly displaces people from their homes and hospitals.