The contagious Ebola virus outbreak has killed at least 131 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the central African country’s officials said, revising the figure from the previous 118 dead. Doctors are tracking more than 500 suspected cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will host an emergency committee meeting on Tuesday to discuss the deadly outbreak.

"An Emergency Committee has been scheduled for later today," a WHO spokesman told AFP, two days after the UN health agency's chief declared the outbreak an international public health emergency.

The rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern.

Most of the cases have occurred in the DR Congo, and the outbreak has spread to Uganda, where the strain was first identified in 2007-08.

Bundibugyo kills 30 percent to 40 percent of infected people, making it less lethal than the more common Zaire strain, which causes death in up to 90 percent, according to a global study published in 2024.

Bundibugyo is one of the four species of the ebolavirus genus that cause life-threatening illness in humans. All Ebola viruses are transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or humans or objects contaminated with such fluids.

Body fluid transmission is a particular risk for hospital workers. A US doctor working in the DRC has been infected in the current outbreak.

There are no approved vaccines or drugs for Bundibugyo ebolavirus. Emergency use authorisation would be necessary for the deployment of any experimental treatments or existing treatments that have been effective against other strains.

Potential candidates that have helped to control Bundibugyo in trials in non-human primates include Merck’s Ervebo, Mapp Biopharmaceutical's MBP 134, and Auro Vaccines’ VesiculoVax.