Italy's Ebola Scare: Two Aid Workers Test Negative, While Rare Bundibugyo Strain Spreads in Central Africa

In an official statement, the ministry stressed that the risk of Ebola in Italy "remains very low"—a message echoed by Lombardy's regional welfare councillor, Guido Bertolaso . The rapid containment and testing protocol mirrored Italy's earlier experience in 2015, when a single returning healthcare worker from Sierra Leone tested positive for the Zaire strain during the West Africa epidemic but caused no secondary infections .

Even before the suspected cases emerged, Italy's ministry of health had already introduced enhanced surveillance measures at airports for passengers returning from the DRC and Uganda, citing "maximum caution" given the "uncertainties regarding the scale and geographic spread" of the Bundibugyo-driven outbreak .

The outbreak they left behind: Bundibugyo strain in DRC and Uganda

The outbreak that prompted the Italian scare is the first major emergence of the Bundibugyo virus (Orthoebolavirus bundibugyoense) since it was originally discovered in Uganda's Bundibugyo District in 2007 . It is biologically distinct from the more common Zaire ebolavirus, and that distinction carries a dangerous consequence: the tools that have tamed other recent Ebola outbreaks don't work here.

Case numbers as of May 24, 2026

According to the latest joint report from the DRC and Ugandan Ministries of Health, the outbreak has expanded significantly since the first confirmation on May 15, 2026 :

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):

• 904 suspected cases
• 101 confirmed cases
• 119 suspected deaths
• 10 confirmed deaths
• Confirmed cases now span three provinces: Ituri, Nord-Kivu, and—for the first time—Sud-Kivu

Uganda:

• 47 suspected cases
• 32 confirmed cases
• 24 suspected deaths
• 10 confirmed deaths

For context on how rapidly this crisis escalated: on May 16, just one day after the formal outbreak declaration, health authorities reported 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths . By May 19, the CDC had issued a formal Health Alert Network advisory warning clinicians and travelers about the cross-border spread . By May 21, the International Rescue Committee had launched an emergency response .

Note: Uganda experienced a separate and unrelated Sudan virus outbreak earlier in 2025 (declared January 30, ended April 26) that involved 14 total cases and was confined to Kampala, Wakiso, and Mbale districts . The current Bundibugyo outbreak is a distinct event.

Why this strain is especially dangerous

The Bundibugyo virus belongs to a different species than the Zaire ebolavirus that caused the devastating 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic (over 28,000 cases) and the 2018–2019 outbreak in eastern DRC (over 3,000 cases) .

No licensed vaccine exists for Bundibugyo. The Ervebo vaccine—which proved highly effective during recent Zaire-strain outbreaks and was used to vaccinate over 35,000 people in the DRC's 2025 Kasai Province outbreak—provides no protection against the Bundibugyo strain .

No targeted treatments are currently licensed for patients infected with this strain. Without monoclonal antibody therapies, which have become standard for Zaire ebolavirus, clinicians must rely entirely on supportive care: managing fluids, electrolytes, blood pressure, and secondary infections .

The combination of no vaccine and no specific therapeutics is what's driving the outbreak's scale and making containment more difficult. Contact tracing, isolation, and infection prevention remain the primary defense, but these measures are harder to execute across a porous international border where the disease is already present in both the DRC and Uganda .

The CDC has advised clinicians in the United States to obtain detailed travel histories from patients presenting with compatible symptoms who have visited the affected regions, and it has urged travelers to take enhanced precautions . Meanwhile, global health responders are racing to deploy what tools they do have—surveillance, community engagement, safe burials, and supportive clinical care—against a rare and understudied pathogen.