The Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people began three months before it was officially declared in mid-May, the World Health Organization said, raising the likelihood that its true scale is far larger than previously thought.
The outbreak, centered in eastern DR Congo, is caused by the rare Bundibugyo species of the virus and marks the second-deadliest outbreak on record.
WHO Africa director Mohamed Janabi said genomic sequencing showed the outbreak began in February, with some early cases misdiagnosed as malaria and typhoid. “We are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us,” he told reporters. WHO experts recently recommended prioritizing Ervebo, the only licensed existing Ebola vaccine, for clinical trials against Bundibugyo as researchers work on a jab to target the new strain.