DRC’s Ebola outbreak began months before it was officially declared, says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began months prior to its official declaration. According to the WHO, genetic sequencing revealed the true timeline of the virus's spread in the region.

During the initial phase of the outbreak, early cases of the disease were frequently misdiagnosed and wrongly attributed to other common illnesses such as malaria and typhoid, delaying the formal recognition and response to the public health crisis.