自4月以来，刚果（金）东部伊图里的蒙布瓦卢已有居民死亡，5月17日世卫组织将这次暴发定为“国际关注的公共卫生紧急事件”，这是自2005年以来第9次此类宣布。到5月20日，刚果（金）已有近600例疑似病例和139例死亡；世卫认为病毒至少已传播数月，专家担心其规模可能接近2014—16年西非疫情的11,000人死亡，或至少超过2018年东刚果那次造成2,000多人死亡的疫情。

这次疫情由Bundibugyo毒株引起，致死率虽低于Zaire毒株，但目前既没有获批疫苗，也没有快速诊断，伊图里的样本还要飞往约2,000公里外的金沙萨检测，往往要等数天才出结果。乌干达首都坎帕拉已确诊2名刚果公民，美国一名在当地工作的医生也感染并被送往德国，另有病例出现在戈马，卢旺达据报关闭了部分边境口岸。

东刚果的冲突、基础设施和援助缩减进一步放大了风险：伊图里和基伍有100多个民兵组织活动，M23近两年控制了两省大部分地区并迫使许多援助人员离开，而美国此前用于监测和防备的资金在过去一年被大幅削减，国际救援委员会在伊图里从5个区域缩减到2个。2018年疫情靠约300,000剂疫苗和两年努力才结束，而这一次若缺乏疫苗和更强的公众信任，控制难度会更大。

Since April, deaths have been reported in Mongbwalu in Ituri, and on May 17 the WHO declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” only the ninth such declaration since 2005. By May 20, Congo had nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 deaths; the WHO says the virus has likely been circulating for months, and experts fear it could approach the 11,000 deaths of west Africa’s 2014-16 epidemic, or at least exceed the 2,000-plus deaths from eastern Congo in 2018.

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which is somewhat less fatal than Zaire but has no licensed vaccine or rapid test, and samples from Ituri must be flown about 2,000km to Kinshasa for results that can take days. Two Congolese nationals were diagnosed in Kampala, an American doctor was evacuated to Germany, and cases have also appeared in Goma, with Rwanda reportedly closing some border crossings.

Conflict and aid cuts are worsening the situation: more than 100 militias operate in Ituri and the Kivus, M23 controls much of both provinces, and U.S. funding for surveillance and preparedness has been sharply reduced, forcing the IRC from five areas in Ituri to two. The 2018 outbreak took two years and about 300,000 vaccine doses to end, so without vaccines and stronger local trust, public-health measures will be much harder to sustain.

Source: A new Ebola outbreak could be the worst in a decade

Subtitle: Medics know how to respond. But aid cuts, war and the lack of a vaccine make it difficult

Dateline: 5月 21, 2026 04:59 上午 | GOMA