By Alaine Umubyeyi

Molbio

The 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in Central Africa [The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Uganda] highlights critical gaps in diagnostic infrastructure, necessitating decentralized solutions to combat high fatality rates and rapid transmission in remote areas. 

After emergency declarations by World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in May 2026, confirmed cases in DRC increased rapidly and expanded into North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces.

Bundibugyo virus is part of a family of viruses that cause filovirus disease, which can cause high mortality. Previous BVD outbreaks in Uganda and DRC reported case fatality rates of approximately 30% to 50%.

The current outbreak is occurring in remote and densely populated communities amid insecurity, humanitarian crisis, and high population and trade movement. These conditions increase the risk of disease spreading, and therefore call for intensified surveillance, timely information sharing, and coordinated cross-border preparedness. 

Timely isolation and case management depend on accurate molecular confirmation through nucleic acid amplification testing. Traditional workflows, however, require reliable power, cold-chain logistics, and longer turnaround times, leading to delays in sample processing, case confirmation, isolation, contact tracing, and surveillance in remote or high-risk areas.

Health authorities in DRC, with WHO and partners, are scaling up public health measures, including laboratory surge capacity, to support rapid case identification, isolation, and care. Teams from the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB), the national medical research laboratory for the Ministry of Health in DRC, are deploying to Bunia and other locations to expand testing under a nationally led decentralization strategy, but options for decentralized testing remain limited.

Relevance of Truenat

Molbio’s Truenat micro-PCR platform provides an alternative to traditional laboratory testing as a fully portable, battery-powered molecular laboratory. Nearly 1,200 Truenat platforms are already in use across 29 African countries, including 51 in DRC, primarily for infectious disease testing.

We have developed a real-time PCR test capable of detecting all major epidemic-causing filoviruses—Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, Bundibugyo virus, Tai Forest, and Marburg virus—avoiding the dangerous diagnostic “blind spots” seen in older, strain-specific rapid kits. The test runs on the Truenat platform and delivers results in  one hour. 

Moving the diagnostic capabilities of a high-tier laboratory directly to rural and remote clinics cuts down sample transit times. This fast turnaround provides immediate, field-level confirmation of Bundibugyo, Zaire, or Marburg infections. Ultimately, this allows emergency medical teams to isolate patients sooner, protect communities, and stop transmission chains right where they start.

The test is currently being evaluated as part of a coordinated initiative to strengthen the diagnostic response to BVD. Led by WHO, Africa CDC, CHAI, PATH and FIND with support from Unitaid, the evaluations are being carried out in collaboration with Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG), Switzerland, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale (INRB) in Kinshasa, DRC, among others. They include both laboratory-based molecular assays to support confirmatory testing as well as diagnostics suitable for decentralized settings to enable faster, front-line decision making.

Evidence generated throughout this study may inform potential recommendations by national/regional public health authorities (e.g., Africa CDC) or support submissions for regulatory authorization (e.g., WHO-EUL).

As a point-of-care diagnostics company, we believe decentralized testing capacity is the bedrock of epidemic preparedness and response. With a sizable footprint of Truenat installations and ongoing evaluations of the Truenat Ebola/Marburg assay, we are committed to strengthening laboratory systems to meet the challenges of current and future filovirus outbreaks in African countries.