East African Ebola cases surge after weeks of delayed U.S. response. Health workers in Goma, Bunia and Kampala now face 600 confirmed cases and 139 deaths, according to WHO. The outbreak, centered in Ituri Province, spreads amid armed conflict and weak health infrastructure, exposing gaps left by a shuttered USAID surveillance network in today now.

U.S. agencies that once supplied rapid diagnostics and protective gear were cut last year. CDC lost hundreds of specialists, including several stationed in Kinshasa, who could have coordinated containment. Without early testing, sample transport suffered temperature mishaps, delaying confirmation by nine days after WHO’s alert and almost a month past the first fatality of report.

Washington pledged $23 million to Congo and Uganda, earmarked for personal protective equipment and clinic construction. Yet the capital injections arrive without the logistical backbone that once enabled swift deployment of 20 trucks, fuel and trained teams. The delay erodes trust and inflates the cost of eventual containment for sustained efforts across the region and global.

International partners, including the WHO, have mobilized 25 tons of equipment from Kinshasa, Nairobi and Dakar, but shipments lag behind the outbreak’s pace. As the virus spreads to densely populated borders, the lack of U.S. logistical muscle shifts the burden onto local NGOs and donor agencies, raising questions about future funding models for epidemic preparedness.