How mistrust emerged in real time in the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak : 'Ebola business', social media and the history of mistrust in Ebola epidemics in eastern Congo

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Park, Sung Joon ; Nguyen, Vinh-Kim ; Dz’bo, Freddy Lorima ; Bachweki Basia, Emmanuel ; Muhindo Wema, Kennedy ; Mumbesa, Gloire ; Doevenspeck, Martin ; Villa, Jules ; Mwanabiningo, Nene Morisho:
How mistrust emerged in real time in the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak : 'Ebola business', social media and the history of mistrust in Ebola epidemics in eastern Congo.
In: BMJ Global Health. Bd. 11 (2026) Heft 9 . - e025522.
ISSN 2059-7908
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2026-025522

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Abstract

On 15 May 2026, Congolese health authorities declared a Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in Mongbwalu and Bunia in Ituri Province. BVD is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, one of four orthoebolavirus species that cause Ebola disease in humans. This species is much rarer than Zaire ebolavirus, which has caused most previous Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks. In the months since its declaration, the outbreak has become one of the swiftest on record. 1 The pace of this outbreak raises an old question with new urgency: how could the medical humanitarian apparatus of Ebola response be caught, once again, unprepared?2 Delayed declaration of this outbreak and the absence of proven treatments and vaccines3 are certainly part of the answer.1