Ebola Outbreak

Learn more about the recent Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, including WHO guidance, treatment, international spread, control, and preventative measures.

➡️ Ebola Outbreaks

Ebola virus disease is a severe, highly contagious, and often fatal illness, for which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to an ongoing outbreak in Africa. The disease is caused by viruses of the genus Orthoebolavirus and carries a case fatality rate ranging from 25% to 90% depending on the specific virus species.

⚠️ Current Situation (May 2026)

  • Global Emergency: The WHO formally declared a global health emergency on May 17, 2026 to coordinate international containment efforts.
  • Affected Regions: The outbreak is primarily centred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (specifically the Ituri province) and has crossed borders into neighbouring Uganda.
  • Diagnostic Challenges: This specific surge is driven by the Bundibugyo variant, which initially evaded detection by older standard diagnostic tests.

🔴 Symptoms and Disease Progression

The incubation period lasts between 2 and 21 days, mostly 4 to 10 days, median 7 days. Infected individuals only become contagious once they begin to display active symptoms:

  • Initial Phase: Sudden onset of high fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, and a sore throat.
  • Advanced Phase: Severe vomiting, watery diarrhoea, a distinct skin rash, and impaired liver and kidney function.
  • Critical Complications: Internal and external bleeding (haemorrhaging) leading to terminal multi-organ failure.

🤝 Transmission and Spread

Ebola is a zoonotic disease, meaning it jumps from animals to humans.

  • Animal Hosts: Fruit bats and bats are the suspected natural reservoirs. Humans contract the virus through contact with infected wildlife or by consuming raw "bushmeat".
  • Human-to-Human: The virus spreads exclusively via direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids (such as saliva, sweat, urine, or vomit) of an infected or deceased person. It is not an airborne virus and does not spread through respiratory droplets.

🩺 Treatment and Prognosis

  • No Specific Cure: There is currently no approved antiviral drug that directly eradicates the virus and importantly no approved Bundibugyo virus-specific vaccines.
  • Supportive Care: Medical relief organisations like Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières focus heavily on aggressive fluid replacement (rehydration), electrolyte monitoring, and pain management.
  • Early Intervention: Seeking immediate medical care significantly improves individual survival rates.

Public health bodies, including the UK's UK Health Security Agency, state that the risk to the general public in Western countries remains exceptionally low, as transmission requires direct and close physical contact with infected bodily fluids.

Draft by Google Gemini, checked by Dr. Norbert Stute, Date: 17.05.26

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