The Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak is spreading in Central Africa, with more than 1,000 suspected cases, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has emerged as the epicenter, World Health Organization officials have announced. How worried should Americans be as reports of Ebola cases skyrocket?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for the majority of people in the United States, the likelihood of a virus like Ebola spreading is very low.
“The likelihood of widespread transmission of Ebola is extremely low,” Michelle Barry, director of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and senior associate dean of the School of Global Health, said in a recent statement for the Stanford report. “However, a timely and cooperative global response is essential to support DRC and its neighboring countries to track and contain this outbreak and save lives.”
In 2014, U.S. health officials were forced to deal with imported Ebola cases from an outbreak in West Africa. Eleven people have been treated for Ebola virus infection in the United States, and two have died from the virus. The majority of them had contracted the Ebola virus outside the United States.
Locations that will be the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in 2026
According to the WHO, the first suspected case of the new strain of Ebola, known as the Bundibugyo strain, in 2026 was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in late April and formally investigated in early May. Testing has shown that, unlike earlier strains, there is currently no approved vaccine or targeted therapy for this virus strain.
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Since then, the number of suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased to 906, with 223 deaths as of May 29, according to the CDC. Seven cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Uganda, three of which were imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and one has died.
The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa infected more than 28,600 people, making it the largest outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1976, according to the WHO.
Is the United States preparing for a deadly Ebola outbreak?
The United States maintains a high number of Ebola cases overseas as the outbreak in Africa grows. Experts are questioning travel policies, lack of funding and preparedness for a deadly outbreak.
Where Americans Abroad Get Ebola Treatment
Within hours of U.S. authorities announcing they planned to open a 50-bed Ebola isolation facility in Kenya on May 29, a Kenyan court ordered a pause on the plan, citing concerns about public health risks.
U.S. officials said the 50-bed unit at an air force base in central Kenya, which is caring for Americans who have been exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic, will begin operating on Friday, according to Reuters.
Patients who develop symptoms will be treated in countries other than the United States, officials said.
The CDC has temporarily restricted entry to certain travelers who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan.
How 2026 Ebola cases compare to past epidemics
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen a rapid increase in infections since the WHO declared a state of emergency on May 17, with more than 1,000 suspected cases under investigation across the region.
How contagious is the Ebola virus?
All viruses have an R₀ factor (or reproduction number), which estimates the number of people one infected person could infect others in the absence of interventions such as vaccination or infection control.
Compared to other infectious diseases, Ebola has a relatively low reproductive number compared to COVID-19 or measles, but it has a much higher mortality rate, according to the Stanford report.
What are the symptoms of Bundibugyo Ebola strain?
Symptoms are generally similar to those of other Ebola viruses, but experts can’t be completely sure because only a limited number of cases of this particular strain had been observed before the recent outbreak. Symptoms usually begin suddenly and appear within 2 to 21 days after infection.
How do zoonotic diseases such as Ebola spread to humans?
Ebola enters humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, and other body fluids of infected animals. In Africa, transmission has been recorded through the handling of infected fruit bats, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, forest antelopes, and porcupines found sick or dead in tropical rainforests.
Disease outbreaks from animals are becoming more common. why?
The recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks were both caused by pathogens that spread from animals to humans, said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics, molecular virology, and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Hantaviruses are usually transmitted to humans through rodent feces or saliva, while Ebola virus is often transmitted from animals such as fruit bats and porcupines.
“This is our new normal,” Hotez says of zoonotic disease spillovers. “We should expect large-scale zoonotic spillover events and severe epidemics to occur every year, every two years, every three years.”
A recent study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that the more contact humans have with animals, especially through trade, the more likely it is that diseases will be passed between animals.
Contributed by Charles Trepany and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy/USA TODAY, Reuters
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, BMJ
