While the media is focused on the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, a potentially much more serious situation is developing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Read in full: https://www.who.int/news/item/17-05-2026-epidemic-of-ebola-disease-in-th...
Extracts below
17 May 2026 Statement Geneva
Pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 12 - Determination of a public health emergency of international concern, including a pandemic emergency of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), after having consulted the States Parties where the event is known to be currently occurring, is hereby determining that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency, as defined in the IHR...
The Director-General of WHO considers that the event meets the criteria of the definition of PHEIC, contained in Article 1 - Definitions of the IHR, for the following reasons:
1. The event is extraordinary for the following reasons:
... The high positivity rate of the initial samples collected (with eight positives among 13 samples collected in various areas), the confirmation of cases in both Kampala and Kinshasa, the increasing trends in syndromic reporting of suspected cases and clusters of deaths across the province of Ituri all point towards a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread...
unlike for Ebola-zaire strains, there are currently no approved Bundibugyo virus-specific therapeutics or vaccines...
2. The event constitutes a public health risk to other States Parties through the international spread of disease...
3. The event requires international coordination and cooperation to understand the extent of the outbreak, to coordinate surveillance, prevention and response efforts, to scale up and strengthen operations and ensure ability to implement control measures...
The WHO advice is enumerated below and will be subject to further refinement as appropriate after having considered the advice from the Emergency Committee and issuing of Temporary Recommendations.
For States Parties where the event is occurring (the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda):
Activate their national disaster/emergency management mechanisms and establish an emergency operation centre...
For all Other States Parties:
No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science...
The general public should be provided with accurate and relevant information on the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak and measures to reduce the risk of exposure...
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org