An investigation published in the journal Science has concluded that the Democratic Republic of Congo's fast-spreading Ebola outbreak began in January — at least four months before it was officially declared on May 15 — in the eastern Ituri province.
Based on interviews with 97 people — nurses, doctors, community leaders, survivors, grieving relatives, coffin-makers and cemetery caretakers — plus photos, WhatsApp messages, medical notes and funeral biographies, researchers identified more than 500 suspected cases between mid-January and the declaration. One transmission chain began with a 50-year-old woman identified only as 'A', who died on January 25 after vomiting blood; her mother died six days later.
The outbreak, Congo's 17th and now the second-largest on record with more than 3,500 cases, is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved vaccine or treatment. Health experts have warned that delayed detection allowed the virus to spread undetected through the gold-mining towns of Mongbwalu and Rwampara before authorities responded.
The report underscores the difficulty of outbreak surveillance in remote regions and raises urgent questions about whether earlier detection could have contained what has become one of the deadliest Ebola epidemics since the 2014–16 West Africa crisis.
