Donors pledged nearly $500m for the Bundibugyo Ebola response, 57% over target, in the same week confirmed cases rose 58% and the outbreak jumped the border into Uganda. Eight people died as the only experimental treatment stayed unauthorised. Meanwhile the MV Hondius hantavirus cluster is quietly burning out.
The Bundibugyo response solved the money problem in a week and ran into every problem money cannot buy.
WHO bulletin DON605 logged 1,040 Bundibugyo Ebola cases and 241 deaths on 29 May, up from 831 and 186 eight days earlier. Laboratory-confirmed cases jumped 58%, from 85 to 134.
WHO's 29 May bulletin recorded 1,040 Bundibugyo Ebola cases in DRC, up 25% in eight days, with laboratory-confirmed cases rising 58% from 85 to 134. The outbreak has now been active since at least April, weeks before the formal WHO alert on 5 May.
The case surge reflects a combination of genuine transmission growth and improved laboratory throughput since the 17 May public health emergency declaration. Contact-tracing still covers only about one in five named contacts.
Donors pledged nearly $500 million for the Bundibugyo Ebola response at an Africa CDC summit on 26 May, 57% above the $319 million target. South Africa doubled its pledge; the Gates Foundation gave $15 million.
Donors pledged nearly $500 million at Africa CDC's 26 May summit for the Bundibugyo Ebola response, beating the $319 million six-month target by 57%. South Africa doubled its pledge to $5 million; the Gates Foundation committed $15 million.
Past Ebola fundraising rounds took weeks or months to convert pledges into wire transfers reaching the field. Treatment centres and contact tracers need weekly salaries, so the conversion speed will decide whether the money arrives in time.
Uganda's confirmed Bundibugyo cases rose from 2 to 9 in DON605, all in Kampala and neighbouring Wakiso. A country this good at case-finding moving in that direction signals onward transmission, not a single traveller.
Uganda's confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola cases rose from two to nine between 21 and 29 May, all in Kampala and the neighbouring Wakiso District. The spread comes from a single imported case, confirming onward transmission in the capital city.
Uganda contained a different Ebola strain in 2022 using contact-tracing alone. The challenge now is that Kampala has over two million people, and no vaccine or approved treatment exists for this particular strain.
As of WHO's 29 May bulletin, the MBP134 and remdesivir trial, the only experimental Bundibugyo treatment, had still not been authorised to dose a single patient. A new $62 million vaccine coalition needs 12 to 18 months to reach human trials.
MBP134, a monoclonal antibody cocktail paired with remdesivir, is the only experimental Bundibugyo Ebola treatment. As of 29 May, no patient had received a dose, with approvals pending in DRC and Uganda since 20 May.
A separate $62 million vaccine effort launched on 1 June, but those candidates sit 12 to 18 months from any human trial.
A Kenyan court suspended a US plan for a 50-bed quarantine facility at a Nairobi air force base on 29 May, and hundreds protested on 1 June. Days earlier, the US, Mexico and Canada announced Ebola screening for the World Cup.
Qatar×2A Kenyan court suspended a US plan on 29 May for a 50-bed quarantine facility at a Nairobi air force base. Hundreds protested the site on 1 June.
The US, Mexico and Canada separately announced Ebola screening at 2026 FIFA World Cup venues on 28 May, against WHO advice on broad travel limits.
A treatment centre in eastern DRC was torched by protesters and then rebuilt, the Africa CDC and WHO reported on 29 May. Tedros, who visited Ituri on 28 May, said stopping transmission depends entirely on humanitarian access.
QatarA Bundibugyo Ebola treatment centre in eastern DRC was torched by protesters and rebuilt, a separate incident from the earlier South Kivu attack. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Ituri Province on 28 May.
Two facility attacks in eight days, plus M23 strikes on health centres, point to a deepening access problem that is slowing the response.
WHO bulletin DON604 put the MV Hondius Andes-virus cluster at an effective reproduction number of 0.7 on 22 May, with 13 cases and matching genomes confirming a single spillover. The 42-day all-clear window closes in mid-June.
WHO bulletin DON604 put the Andes-virus cluster aboard the MV Hondius at an effective reproduction number of 0.7 as of 22 May, meaning it is fading. All 13 cases share near-identical genome sequences.
The sequences confirm a single rodent-to-human spillover rather than person-to-person spread, and the 42-day monitoring window for high-risk contacts ends around mid-June.
The US CDC shifted its H5N1 avian influenza reporting from weekly to monthly, with the next update due the first Friday of June, while Idaho dairy herds remained actively infected.
The US CDC changed its H5N1 bird-flu reporting from weekly to monthly on 29 May, even as dairy herds in Idaho remained actively infected. The next update is due on the first Friday of June.
Public health experts argue that surveillance reporting should only be slowed when an outbreak is declining, and Idaho's herd infections are still growing. The USDA also ended mandatory pre-movement testing for dairy cattle earlier in May, removing two surveillance layers at once.
Bundibugyo's confirmed case-fatality ratio sits near 14%, between seasonal flu's 0.1% and classic Zaire Ebola's 50%. With 906 suspected cases untested, that figure measures only the patients who lived long enough to reach a laboratory.
WHO data show 906 suspected Bundibugyo Ebola cases against 134 laboratory-confirmed ones, a ratio of 6.8 to one. The confirmed case-fatality ratio stands near 14%.
That figure almost certainly understates the truth, because many patients die before a test is taken. The real death rate sits between 14% and roughly 24% if all suspected cases count.
Escalating on Ebola, easing on hantavirus. Uganda's laboratory-confirmed cases rose from 2 to 9, a 350% climb, and attacks on health facilities in M23 territory continued through late May 2026, while the MV Hondius Andes-virus cluster fell to an Rt of 0.7 by 22 May.
