WHO Disease Outbreak News
WHO's official bulletin series reporting acute public health events worldwide.
WHO's Disease Outbreak News bulletin 618 put DR Congo's Bundibugyo Ebola toll at 3,799 deaths among 7,890 confirmed cases by 23 September 2026, with North Kivu at its highest incidence of the epidemic.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026
Timeline for WHO Disease Outbreak News
Mentioned in: Ebola shifts south to DR Congo's Butembo
Pandemics and BiosecurityMentioned in: Ebola cases pass 1,481 as isolation lags
Pandemics and BiosecurityMentioned in: WHO counts 695 cases as Ebola climbs
Pandemics and BiosecurityMentioned in: First Ebola treatment trial goes live
Pandemics and BiosecurityMentioned in: Bundibugyo Ebola: 831 cases, 186 dead
Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
WHO Disease Outbreak News is the World Health Organization's official bulletin series on acute public health events. WHO says the bulletins cover "confirmed and potential acute public health events of concern across all hazards". The series began in 1996, and the first item reported Cholera on 22 January 1996. Researchers counted 2,789 bulletins from 1996 to 2019.
Each bulletin is numbered, so a run of numbers tracks one outbreak over time: DON612 and DON618 both chart DR Congo's Bundibugyo Ebola epidemic. Single unusual events get their own numbered bulletin. DON595, published on 20 May 2026, reported a recombinant mpox virus carrying genes from both clade Ib and clade IIb, found in at least four countries across three WHO regions. DON599 covered the MV Hondius hantavirus cluster.
The bulletins report the response as well as the case count. The 13 June bulletin showed contact tracing above 70% in all three affected DR Congo provinces, but only 46% of confirmed patients in isolation.