Ebola is a serious disease, but the most important thing to know right up front is this: your risk in the United States is currently extremely low. Understanding what Ebola is, how it spreads, and how outbreaks are controlled can help put this situation into perspective.
Buckle up Nerds, there is a lot of important information you should know about the ongoing outbreak of Ebola. Ebola is a serious disease, but the most important thing to know right up front is this: your risk in the United States, or more generally in the global North, is currently extremely low. Understanding what Ebola is, how it spreads, and how outbreaks are controlled can help put this situation into perspective.
As with the spread of many viral diseases, this situation is rapidly changing. We want to keep you informed, so consider this information current as of the morning of Saturday, May 23, 2026.
Here‘s what we know so far about the current outbreak
The current outbreak of Ebola disease likely began in March in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an area close to the border with Uganda and South Sudan. Most of the over 700 suspected or confirmed cases so far have been in the DRC, and five have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.
Ebola disease is caused by the Ebola virus. Ebola virus is actually a family of viruses, like brothers and sisters, or cousins. One member of this family, Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV), has caused several significant outbreaks in Africa, and the more recent outbreak of which was controlled with the help of a large-scale vaccination program. Unfortunately, there is no specific vaccine for the version involved in the current outbreak. It is a different member of the family, called Bundibugyo virus (BDBV).
Image from CDC website. [archived link]
How does Ebola spread?
One piece of good news is that Ebola does not spread easily. Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. These are things like blood, urine, feces, saliva, or vomit. And, they are spread by someone who is currently sick with symptoms, from someone who died of the disease, or from touching things contaminated with body fluids such as needles or soiled bedsheets from someone with, or who died from, the disease.
This means outbreaks tend to spread in healthcare settings or among close caregivers.
So what happens after someone is exposed?
Symptoms typically appear between 2 and 21 days. That can be a long time, and coupled with the fact that early symptoms can look like common viral infections, it makes identifying cases tricky. The early symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, and sore throat. However, patients rapidly get very sick and have vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes experience internal and external bleeding. Ebola disease belongs to a group of illnesses called viral hemorrhagic fevers because of the bleeding.
🤓🚨 Nerd alert: Hemorrhage is heavy or uncontrolled bleeding that happens when blood escapes damaged blood vessels. Although Ebola disease is sometimes called hemorrhagic disease, severe bleeding is not as common as the other symptoms.
Controlling an Ebola outbreak depends on early testing and isolating infected people. Infections are confirmed by blood tests for the virus’s genetic material, or blueprints, but results can take several days or more depending on how close a diagnostic lab is to where the samples are collected. Because those early symptoms are non-specific, testing and tracing exposed contacts are important to stop outbreaks.
Unfortunately, there is no specific prevention, treatment, or cure for this virus infection. Promising research studies have shown some protection against Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) using experimental vaccines or the available Ebola Zaire (EBOV) vaccine, but it is unclear if they will be used in this outbreak. This means patients must be isolated as quickly as possible to stop the spread and then treated with supportive care: things like fluids, electrolytes, and treatment for complications. Patients who are able to go to high quality health facilities fare much better than patients in rural hospitals with low resources like those at the epicenter of this outbreak. Even so, in previous outbreaks, of the people who got sick with Bundibugyo virus 25-50% of them died. To put that into perspective, that is up to 50 out of 100 people compared to 1-2 out of 100 that would die from flu or COVID.
That is very scary, but it is important to stress that the risk to the general public in most places remains very low. As of today, no one has tested positive for Bundibugyo in the US. Ebola outbreaks are typically contained close to their place of origin through rapid isolation, contact tracing, and international monitoring.
What is happening internationally to help manage this outbreak?
The World Health Organization, or the WHO, is assisting with isolating ill people, tracing people they had contact with, and deploying international monitoring. On May 17, the WHO declared this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (called a PHEIC, which is pronounced “fake”, yes really!) because there is confirmed international spread to neighboring countries in Africa, there is a high risk for broader spread due to international travel, and there is likely an underestimation of the number of people with and dying from the disease. In addition to the 82 laboratory-confirmed and over 750 suspected cases in the DRC, there have now been five total cases confirmed in Uganda including at least one in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, which has a population of 4.3 million people. We are likely to see many more cases, and deaths, before this outbreak is under control. The designation by the WHO allows it to ramp up international coordination and cooperation necessary for information sharing, surveillance, and control. Unfortunately, the dismantling of the US Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) and the departure of the US from the WHO puts it on the outside looking in and not a central player in obtaining information. And it limits its trained public health officials from helping in the response to the outbreak.
What is the US doing about this outbreak?
On May 18, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced new travel restrictions for visitors from the African countries at the center of this outbreak. For the next 30 days, anyone who has traveled through that area in the prior 21 days will not be allowed into the US. The restriction does not apply to US citizens, but on Friday the government added green card holders to the restricted list. This policy has already led to the diversion of a Denver bound flight from Paris because a passenger was from one of the counties covered by this new restriction. Those not covered by the restrictions and who are allowed to come to the US must now land in Dulles International Airport in Virginia for health screening before being allowed entry. While travel bans may sound like a reasonable way to stop spread, unfortunately, studies show that they have only minor effects on limiting the spread of Ebola. Moreover, travel bans can limit movement of supplies, equipment and humanitarian aid. While the US has mobilized 23 million USD in bilateral foreign assistance, it is unclear how much of that will be used in the US for screening and potential isolation of sick people entering the US versus external aid. The US government has announced that it is providing resources to establish up to 50 Ebola response clinics in the DRC and Uganda.
What can you do to keep your risk low?
ℹ️ Keep up on the outbreak, but don’t panic!
🙅 Distance yourself from anyone who has recently traveled to areas near where this outbreak is happening.
🚫 Don’t travel to where this outbreak is happening.
🤲🏾 Frequently and thoroughly wash your hands.
🥤 Don’t share things like cups where you could get exposed to someone else’s bodily fluids.
The bottom line is that Ebola is a serious disease, so it is worth keeping an eye on how it develops, but your risk in the US right now is extremely low.
Resources/ further reading:
WHO – WHO declares PHEIC
CDC – Ebola Disease: current situation [archived link]
CDC – Travel restrictions declaration
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) – Information on Bundibugyo
