JONATHAN M. METSCH, Dr.P.H. – Tracking Emerging Public Health Challenges – August 9, 2026 – EBOLA
“The U.S. is temporarily restricting travel for certain passengers who recently visited Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an effort to reduce the risk of Ebola transmission.
The measures are a part of U.S. public health protocols for travelers arriving from areas affected by Ebola.
Here are some details:
U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals who have been present in Uganda or South Sudan (and not present in DRC) within 21 days before arrival in the U.S. will have their air travel routed through designated U.S. airports for public health entry screening, CDC guidelines said on Friday.
The requirement applies even to passengers who only transited through Uganda or South Sudan on a connecting flight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The agency said travelers, including U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals, who have been in DRC within 21 days before departure would not be allowed to board commercial flights with U.S. destinations.
Those travelers should remain outside the U.S. until 21 days have passed since they left DRC, it said.
Travelers who have been in Ebola outbreak-affected provinces in DRC may face additional travel requirements imposed by local authorities before they are permitted to leave the country.” (1)
“The DRC’s confirmed Ebola cases have risen above 4,000 for the first time in the current outbreak, government data showed. The epidemic, the world’s second-largest, has been described as the fastest-spreading on record.
As Ebola continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo, health authorities are tightening screening measures to prevent the virus from reaching the capital, Kinshasa. All passengers arriving by boat are being checked after a traveler died with Ebola-like symptoms.
Meanwhile, frontline health workers say they are battling the outbreak without pay and under dangerous conditions. With the death toll nearing 2,000, the World Health Organization is urging trials of the Ervebo vaccine, while officials warn the epidemic is outpacing containment efforts.” (2)
“Over 4,000 Ebola Bundibugyo cases and 1,800 deaths have been recorded so far in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – numbers so alarming that health experts intend to research whether the virus is mutating to become more infectious.
This was revealed by Dr Jean Kaseya, the Director General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, at a media briefing on Thursday.
In the past 12 weeks, the current outbreak has grown at eight times the pace of the world’s biggest Ebola outbreak, which took place in West Africa between 2018 and 2020.
Every day in the past week, 75 new cases and 35 deaths have been recorded.” (3)
“The fight against Ebola is not going well. Last week, the head of Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, announced that the ongoing outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had ballooned into the second worst of all time, a milestone he had thought was possible to avoid only weeks before. Rather than the spread of the virus slowing, cases are doubling about every 10 days; more than 1,800 people have died, though the actual toll is likely at least twice as high. His organization is now fighting to keep this Ebola outbreak from becoming the worst on record, Kaseya said at a press conference.
This outbreak is spreading more quickly than any other in history partly because one of the basic tools needed to control infectious disease—testing for the pathogen—is not working. So the Congolese government, along with scientists, aid groups, the World Health Organization, and the world’s biotech companies, is racing to fix it.
In its early stages, Ebola can resemble several more common viruses, including malaria, so health-care workers rely on tests, rather than symptoms, to diagnose the disease. After the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people, Congo began stockpiling machines that could detect the Zaire species of Ebola virus, which causes most outbreaks. Hundreds of these GeneXpert devices are now in hospitals all over Congo, along with cartridges that can test a patient’s sample for the virus within an hour, Christian Happi, a molecular biologist who leads a team in Congo working on surveilling this outbreak, told me.” (4)
“The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called for an urgent scale-up of the community-led Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with stronger early detection, contact follow up, access to care, support for frontline health workers and faster delivery of resources to affected communities.”
“Africa CDC and WHO called for immediate action to:
-identify cases earlier and raise daily contact follow-up to at least 95%;
-bring testing, referral, isolation and treatment services closer to affected communities;
-urgently expand treatment, laboratory, ambulance and safe and dignified burial capacity;
-protect, equip, support and pay frontline health workers on time;
-strengthen infection prevention and control in health facilities;
-maintain essential health services for affected communities;
-improve secure access to areas affected by insecurity and poor infrastructure;
-work through trusted community leaders at every stage of the response;
-sustain cross-border surveillance and regional preparedness; and
-ensure that committed financing reaches frontline operations without delay.” (5)
“We are afraid that this could last one year to end this disease,”….
Non-governmental organisations and officials are warning that enormous gaps remain in surveillance, diagnosis, contact tracing, and community engagement efforts that must be tackled to get the virus under control.”
“No one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading in DRC,” she said.” (6)
The Race to Develop a Bundibugyo Ebola Virus Vaccine, https://healthcare-digital.com/news/the-race-to-develop-a-bundibugyo-ebola-virus-vaccine
Ebola Response Turns to Merck Vaccine, Gilead Drug as Congo Outbreak Worsens, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-07/congo-ebola-outbreak-merck-ervebo-vaccine-gilead-remdesivir-eyed-for-wider-use
Africa CDC Confirms Zaire Ebola Vaccine Use Amid Ongoing Ebola Outbreak, https://www.ndtv.com/health/africa-cdc-says-will-use-zaire-ebola-vaccine-in-current-outbreak-11876715
Unpaid wages and deadly risk: Why health workers are threatening to abandon the Ebola response, By Nimi Princewill, https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/africa/congo-ebola-payroll-crisis-health-workers-intl
One man works to slow the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, and he’s doing it unpaid, https://apnews.com/article/ebola-congo-unpaid-workers-strikes-c676ddd7dadf8517426962d6cf855efd
‘DRC’s largest Ebola outbreak on record: Active conflict and armed groups hamper the response’, https://www.france24.com/en/drc-s-largest-ebola-outbreak-on-record-active-conflict-and-armed-groups-hamper-the-response
DR Congo river boat under quarantine for Ebola after five deaths, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce971plr2nvo
Seven passengers on boat intercepted near Kinshasa test negative for Ebola, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/seven-passengers-boat-intercepted-near-kinshasa-test-negative-ebola-2026-08-07/
1.US tightens travel rules for people returning from Ebola-hit regions, By Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-tightens-travel-rules-people-returning-ebola-hit-regions-2026-08-07/
2.Congo’s Ebola outbreak exceeds 4,000 cases, by Elena Gyldenkerne, https://www.dw.com/en/congos-ebola-outbreak-exceeds-4000-cases/video-78289873
3.Alarming Ebola Spread Raises Question of Viral Mutation, by Kerry Cullinan, https://healthpolicy-watch.news/alarming-ebola-spread-raises-question-of-viral-mutation/
4.The Most Basic Step of the Ebola Response Is Falling Short, by Hana Kiros, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/08/ebola-testing/688215/
5.Africa CDC and WHO call for urgent, community-led action to contain Ebola in the DRC, https://www.who.int/news/item/06-08-2026-africa-cdc-and-who-call-for-urgent–community-led-action-to-contain-ebola-in-the-drc
6.Ebola: We are losing arms race against virus amid funding and tracing struggles, experts warn, by Luke Taylor, https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-100045
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai