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The U.N. refugee agency has confirmed the first Ebola-related deaths inside a displacement camp in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, prompting renewed warnings from humanitarian organizations that the outbreak could spread rapidly through overcrowded camps housing thousands of people displaced by years of conflict.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the two victims were internally displaced people living in Kpangba camp in Ituri province, where approximately 30,000 people have sought shelter after fleeing violence.The deaths mark a significant escalation in the outbreak, which has expanded across three eastern provinces since the World Health Organization declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17.
The outbreak now affects Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, regions that have endured decades of armed conflict and collectively host more than 5 million displaced people, creating conditions that health experts say are highly conducive to the transmission of infectious diseases.
According to a Congolese Health Ministry report reviewed by Reuters, a 60-year-old woman at Kpangba camp tested positive for Ebola on May 30. Authorities said she left quarantine before completing isolation and could no longer be located by contact-tracing teams.
She died the following day, while her daughter died on June 1. An aid worker familiar with the cases told Reuters that laboratory tests conducted after their deaths confirmed both had been infected with the Ebola virus.
Humanitarian workers later recovered the bodies, but the operation was disrupted when residents threw stones at World Health Organization vehicles attempting to reach the area, highlighting persistent mistrust of health agencies.Aid organizations say skepticism toward international health workers has complicated efforts to contain the nearly month-old outbreak. In some communities, families have reportedly buried Ebola victims without notifying authorities to avoid official burial protocols designed to prevent further transmission.
Relief workers have also warned that conditions inside displacement camps make disease control exceptionally difficult. Hundreds of people often share a single toilet, while open defecation remains common because of inadequate sanitation infrastructure.
“We are all really worried that Ebola in these camps will spread extremely quickly and that there will be panic and people will flee all over whether or not they’re contacts, whether or not they’re ill,” Caitlin Brady, country director for the Danish Refugee Council in Congo, told Reuters.
The Congolese Health Ministry identified eight close contacts linked to the infected woman in Kpangba camp, underscoring the potential for additional cases. The International Organization for Migration, which provides humanitarian assistance at the site, also expressed concern about further community transmission.
“It’s a highly populated area so the risks of transmission are obviously higher and worrying,” an aid worker familiar with the response told Reuters. “These are tents with tarp walls. Where do you isolate if you have symptoms?”
At another displacement site, Kigonze camp in Ituri province, local chief Desire Grodya Bapi said residents had recently fallen ill and died, although he was unaware of any laboratory-confirmed Ebola infections there.
As of Friday, Congolese authorities had confirmed 676 Ebola cases and 136 deaths since the outbreak began. The virus has also crossed the border into neighboring Uganda, where officials have reported 19 confirmed infections.
The current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Health officials say the virus circulated undetected for several weeks before it was identified, forcing response teams to race against time to contain its spread.With millions of displaced people living in crowded camps across eastern Congo, humanitarian agencies warn that improving surveillance, restoring community trust and strengthening infection control measures will be critical to preventing the outbreak from escalating into a broader regional health crisis.