A patient who traveled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda died in Kenya on October 5, 2026, from a laboratory-confirmed case of Bundibugyo virus disease, the World Health Organization said.
WHO was notified of the imported case that same day. The patient had been hospitalized and received treatment in Kenya before dying. Both Kenya and Uganda have launched public health response measures, including contact tracing along the travel corridor.
The Kenya case emerged as the DRC outbreak continues to expand. The Alimbongo health zone, in North Kivu in eastern DRC, was newly added to the outbreak's geographic scope. As of October 6, 2026, WHO counted 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 confirmed deaths in the DRC, placing the crude case fatality ratio at 48.2%.
Transmission across the DRC remains intense but unevenly distributed, WHO said. Over the three most recent completed epidemiological weeks, new weekly cases rose 2.5%, from 475 to 487, while weekly deaths held nearly steady at 224, compared with 222 in the prior period. Of 372 deaths recorded since WHO's previous Disease Outbreak News on September 25, 2026, 264 occurred in communities and 108 in treatment centres. WHO said the high proportion of community deaths points to delays in identifying illness and reaching care.
Separately, the Netherlands reported on October 1, 2026, that a healthcare worker had been medically evacuated and tested positive by PCR for Bundibugyo virus.