Ville de Gbadolite
Congo river passenger boat; carried Sud-Ubangi's 2026 Ebola index case from Kisangani.
The river boat Ville de Gbadolite carried Sud-Ubangi's first Ebola case from Kisangani in September 2026, and the province declared an outbreak on 10 September, putting the epidemic on two international borders.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026
Timeline for Ville de Gbadolite
Mentioned in: Ebola reaches Sud-Ubangi by river boat
Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
The Ville de Gbadolite is a Congolese river passenger boat. When it arrived at the port of Akula from Kisangani, border health staff found a passenger with suspected Ebola and isolated him, state broadcaster RTNC reported on 11 September 2026. The National laboratory, INRB, confirmed the infection, and the patient died.
That passenger was the index case for Sud-Ubangi, in DR Congo's FAR north-west, where interim governor Jean-René Galekwa Vundawe declared Ebola on 10 September. Kisangani, capital of Tshopo province, lies about 1,000 km to the south-east, and two cases were confirmed in Sud-Ubangi by 1 October.
The boat's voyage shows how the outbreak can jump distance. On a voyage of several days, a sick passenger shares deck space and food with traders and travellers well before any health post can check him. The province where the boat docked looks across the Ubangi river at two foreign states, the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo.