Africa’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the current Ebola outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain could be the worst one in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC or DR Congo) history. So far, more than 830 cases of the rare strain have been confirmed, and right now, there is no proven treatment or vaccine.

Of those cases, 196 proved fatal. This outbreak is likely to be more widespread than reported cases, as conflicts and displacement make it difficult for healthcare officials to track and trace.

“People Are Hiding” During Ebola Outbreak, Making Containment Difficult

“If we don’t stop the outbreak very soon, it will be worse than what we had in West Africa and eastern DRC,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya told a virtual meeting of African heads of state and donors in Burundi.

Ebola is not airborne. It is transmitted through body fluids even after death, and is spreading fast across three provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, government data shows.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agrees with Kaseya’s assessment. It referred to the outbreak that affected Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone from 2014 to 2016, which killed more than 11,000 people, and a less deadly 2018 outbreak in Congo.

According to a CNN report, Africa CDC’s Kaseya warned that the total funding needs would surge if the initial plan did not get sufficient support. “If we don’t have it in the next four weeks, we will not ask again for $500 million; we’ll be asking about $1.5 billion. If we delay that, it will be $7.5 billion,” he said.

Kaseya is making the claim that the longer this outbreak goes, the worse it’s going to get; therefore, the more money they will need to track, trace, and treat the infected. Quarantine measures will get more difficult as more people contract the disease too.

A Red Cross official said that this outbreak has not yet peaked either.  “We are afraid that this could last one year to end this disease,” Bruno Michon, operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters by video link from eastern Congo.

If this outbreak is the worst in history, officials are correct that it has only just begun, and has far from peaked.

Right now, the risk to the US is stil low.