WHO Declares Ebola Virus Outbreak In Africa A International Well being Emergency

On May 17, 2026

Not again.

The World Health Organization has announced that the recent outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa is a global health emergency.

According to the WHO, nearly 250 people have contracted the virus, and an estimated 80 people have died from it.

The New York Times provided the latest update on the outbreak:

The World Health Organization declared on Saturday that the spread of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda was a global health emergency.

The announcement was made a day after Africa’s leading public health authority reported that an outbreak in a province in the northeast of the country was linked to dozens of suspected deaths.

By Saturday, cases had also been confirmed in Kinshasa, Congo, and in Kampala, Uganda, the capital cities of each country, the W.H.O. said.

In Congo’s Ituri province, where the outbreak was first identified, 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths attributed to the virus had been reported, although only eight cases had been definitively linked to the virus through laboratory testing. There is no approved vaccine and no therapeutics for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the outbreak, according to the W.H.O.

The scale of the outbreak could be far larger than has been detected and reported, the W.H.O. said in declaring a “public health emergency of international concern.” It added that there were “significant uncertainties” about the precise number of people infected and the “geographic spread.”

The W.H.O.’s declaration signals a public health risk requiring a coordinated international response, and is intended to prompt member countries to prepare for the virus to spread and to share vaccines, treatments and other resources needed to contain the outbreak.

Highlights from Disease Outbreak News on #Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo Virus Disease, Democratic Republic of the Congo & Uganda – 16 May 2026:

🔴 As of 15 May, a total of 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths (4 deaths among confirmed cases) have been reported. 65 contacts… pic.twitter.com/uwUZJFyRpH

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 17, 2026

PBS provided more details on the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus and how it differs from previous strains:

The Bundibugyo virus, which health authorities say is responsible for the outbreak, is rare and different from the Ebola Zaire strain that has been dominant in all of Congo’s past 17 outbreaks except one.

The virus was first detected in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district during a 2007-2008 outbreak that killed 37 people out of 149 cases. The second time was in 2012 in an outbreak in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.

The World Health Organization says the Ebola disease is caused by a group of viruses, and that three of them are known to cause large outbreaks: Ebola virus, Sudan virus and Bundibugyo virus.

Dr. Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health who has been involved in past Ebola outbreak responses in Congo, said treatments for viral infections like Ebola are often directed at symptoms.

He said Congo has extensive experience managing Ebola outbreaks, but response efforts could be complicated by the unusual strain.

Here’s how Dr. Robert Malone reacted to the news:

Hanta to Noro to Ebola in less than a month – is there some point in time where the public gets tired of being scared? https://t.co/AIYoEnfOg2

— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) May 15, 2026

As of now, no cases of Ebola have been reported outside Africa.

In 2014, under President Barack Obama, a Liberian national who traveled to Texas to visit family was confirmed to have contracted the Ebola virus and ended up dying from the virus.

The confirmed case resulted in immediate quarantine orders for those who came into contact with the traveler.

Here’s a flashback: