WHO Africa chief warns Ebola's Bundibugyo strain could cross borders

The World Health Organization's regional director for Africa warned Friday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda must not be taken lightly, saying the Bundibugyo strain — for which no vaccine exists — carries a real risk of spreading across international borders.

The warning comes as global health attention has been disproportionately focused on a separate hantavirus outbreak that struck cruise ship passengers from 23 countries, leaving the Ebola situation with comparatively little international visibility at a moment officials say could prove critical.

"It would be a big mistake to underestimate it, especially with a virus with this strain Bundibugyo, (for) which we don't have the vaccine," Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, told Reuters in an interview at WHO headquarters in Geneva on Friday.

Janabi stressed that international cooperation remains the most effective tool available in the absence of a licensed vaccine for the strain. "So I would really encourage everyone, let's help each other, we can bring this thing into control," he said, according to Reuters.

The Bundibugyo strain is distinct from the more widely studied Zaire strain, which has been the primary target of vaccine development efforts following past major outbreaks in the DRC. Because Bundibugyo has emerged far less frequently, investment in countermeasures for this variant has remained limited, leaving communities in the current outbreak zone with significantly fewer protective options.

Officials are particularly concerned that even a single case could serve as a vector for carrying the disease beyond the existing outbreak zones in DRC and Uganda, potentially seeding transmission in new countries before containment measures can be established.

The Korea Times, citing Reuters, reported that the concurrent hantavirus crisis — which affected cruise passengers representing 23 countries — has captured much of the global public health bandwidth, raising fears that the Ebola situation is not receiving the level of coordinated international response it warrants.

Janabi's comments signal that the WHO views the Bundibugyo outbreak as an urgent matter requiring immediate international solidarity — before a disease without a vaccine gains the momentum needed to cross the borders that currently contain it.