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Gbulu
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Nation / PlaceCD

Gbulu

Health zone in Sud-Ubangi province, DR Congo.

Gbulu health zone became the epicentre of Sud-Ubangi's Ebola outbreak on 10 September 2026, when the province's first Bundibugyo case was confirmed there; two cases had been confirmed by 1 October.

Last refreshed: 4 October 2026

Timeline for Gbulu

#14 10 Sept

Mentioned in: Ebola reaches Sud-Ubangi by river boat

Pandemics and Biosecurity
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Background

Gbulu, which WHO spells Bulu, is a health zone in Budjala territory, Sud-Ubangi province, in north-western DR Congo. It marks the north-western EDGE of the Bundibugyo Ebola epidemic.

Two countries lie across the Ubangi river from Gbulu's province, the Central African Republic and Congo-Brazzaville, so a case here carries export risk for both. With few paved roads in DR Congo, people and freight move mostly by the Congo river and its tributaries. The province's first identified case had travelled roughly 1,000 km downriver from Kisangani aboard the Ville de Gbadolite, a voyage on which crowded decks make tracing fellow passengers close to impossible.

Across many Congolese provinces, doctors work off the state payroll, so pay strikes keep recurring in emergencies, just when they are needed most.

Key Issues
Ebola outbreak

Gbulu holds Sud-Ubangi's first Ebola cases

Interim governor Jean-René Galekwa Vundawe confirmed Sud-Ubangi's first Bundibugyo Ebola case in Gbulu on 10 September 2026, after The National biomedical research institute, INRB, tested a sample from the zone. The patient, a 23-year-old man, died at the Miluna health centre in Gwaka. A second case was confirmed by 22 September, and the provincial health division names Gbulu as the epicentre.

The zone faces the outbreak short-handed. The province's doctors were on strike over pay as the cases arrived, removing the clinicians WHO would spot and isolate the next case. WHO's bulletin of late September lists the zone, which it spells Bulu, as newly affected, putting Gbulu on the map of an epidemic that began in Ituri, in the country's north-east.

Common Questions
Where is Gbulu health zone?
In Budjala territory, Sud-Ubangi province, north-western DR Congo. WHO spells it Bulu.Source: https://actualite.cd/2026/09/11/ebola-en-rdc-le-sud-ubangi-sixieme-province-touchee-apres-avoir-enregistre-un-cas-gwaka
How many Ebola cases are in Gbulu?
Two confirmed by 1 October 2026, the only cases in Sud-Ubangi. The first patient, a 23-year-old man, died at Gwaka.Source: https://www.radiookapi.net/2026/10/01/actualite/sante/sud-ubangi-deux-cas-debola-confirmes-sur-fond-de-greve-des-medecins
When did Ebola reach Sud-Ubangi?
Interim governor Jean-René Galekwa Vundawe confirmed the first case, in the Gbulu health zone, on 10 September 2026.Source: https://www.radiookapi.net/2026/09/11/actualite/sante/le-gouverneur-du-sud-ubangi-confirme-un-cas-debola-dans-la-zone-de-sante
Source Material
Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus - DR CongoLe gouverneur du Sud-Ubangi confirme un cas d'Ebola dans la zone de santé de Gbulu