health
Ebola kills 3 Red Cross workers in the Congo, organization says
Updated on: May 23, 2026 / 4:13 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
TL;DR
- Three Red Cross volunteers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) have died from Ebola.
- The volunteers were from the DR Congo Red Cross in Ituri province and are believed to have contracted the virus in March.
- They were carrying out dead body management activities as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola when they were exposed.
- One volunteer died on May 5, and two others died on May 15 and 16.
- The outbreak is also affecting neighboring Uganda, with five confirmed cases there.
- The WHO has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and raised the risk assessment for Congo to 'very high'.
- The Bundibugyo virus strain involved has no approved vaccine or treatments.