Epidemiologist answers 3 frequently asked questions about the Ebola outbreak 26%
By Peter Morales-Brown0%
6/17/2026, 6:30:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Negativity Bias, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Quote-first Misdirection as the most egregious example at 45.1% saturation with 452 hits. Analysis detected 2,067 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,003 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 37.7% and a BS Rank of 26% (16,327 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.60% of the article peer group.
The Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has experienced one of the largest single-day increases in confirmed Ebola cases since the outbreak was declared in May 2026.
Health authorities report the number of confirmed Ebola cases in DRC has increased to 782, with 181 deaths.
However, the true number of cases in DRC may be higher because the outbreak likely began weeks before it was confirmed, and contact tracing has declined.
Speaking to Medical News Today, infectious disease expert Monica Gandhi explains the fast spread of the virus, discuses current vaccine development, and emphasizes that a global spread is unlikely.
According to Congolese officials, a report from June 13, 2026 highlights 72 new confirmed cases of Ebola, including 29 deaths, marking one of the highest daily increases since the outbreak was declared in May.
An updated report from June 16, 2026 now brings the total confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) up to 837, including 196 confirmed related deaths, and 376 individuals hospitalized in isolation.
The outbreak is centered primarily in the Ituri province of the DRC, with 767 confirmed cases from 20 health zones.
There are also 67 confirmed cases from 10 health zones, and three cases from one health zone in North Kivu and South Kivu, respectively.
However, the number of cases in the DRC is likely higher, as the outbreak was officially confirmed on May 15, 2026, in both the DRC and Uganda, weeks after it was suspected to have begun, and the Congolese Ministry of Health added that the contact tracing coverage rate has dropped to 64.4% across the 3 provinces.
Unlike many previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC, the current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
This strain is particularly challenging because there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that the risk of the ongoing outbreak remains low to the United States.
The American medical missionary who reportedly contracted Ebola while in the DRC has returned to the U.S. and remained Ebola-free since May 30, 2026.
Medical News Today again speaks with Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, about the rising number of Ebola cases, vaccine development, and the potential for global spread.
Why is the virus spreading so fast?
“The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is caused by a strain called the Bundibugyo virus which is a distinct species of the ebolavirus family without current vaccines or treatments,” Gandhi explained.
A majority of previous Ebola outbreaks have been due to the Zaire strain, which was responsible for the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa, the largest Ebola disease outbreak to date.
“This particular outbreak of Ebola, a virus that can cause severe symptoms of headache, muscle aches, fever, abdominal pain, cough, sore throat and, eventually, hemorrhage and death, was initially not detected in the region because authorities did not realize this outbreak was caused by Bundibugyo rather than the more common ‘Zaire’ strain requiring a different diagnostic test,” noted Gandhi.
“By the time the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, the virus had already spread considerably and — without any vaccines or treatment — the only way to contain the virus is isolation of someone who is sick, contact tracing, and quarantine of exposed contacts,” she told us.
“The virus is spreading because it is difficult to track and isolate all exposed cases in the middle of a conflict zone in the DRC where people may be fleeing attacks and not respond to health directives.
The US withdrawal from the WHO and collapse of USAID is a huge blow to global health containment efforts as the U.S. used to be a major player in global health.”
– Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH
“Finally, the rapid rise in cases over 1 day could also reflect more diagnostic testing and active surveillance, which is helpful since exposures of those positive cases can then be quarantined,” Gandhi hypothesized.
Are there any vaccines for this strain currently under development?
“Yes, as soon as this outbreak was revealed to be due to the bundibugyo virus, which currently has no licensed vaccine available, the race for a vaccine candidate began,” said Gandhi.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed whether Erbevo, the vaccine against the Zaire strain, should be tried,” Gandhi noted.
However, the WHO consensus is that Erbevo should not be used outside carefully designed research settings.
“Other possible vaccine candidates include an [rVSV] Bundibugyo vaccine being developed by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) although the vaccine will not be ready to be tested in clinical trials for 7 to 9 months,” Gandhi added.
“This vaccine uses a viral vector called [vesicular stomatitis virus] and another viral vector vaccine and an mRNA vaccine are under development, although they won’t be ready for testing for some time,” she explained.
Are experts becoming more concerned about a potential global spread?
Despite the growing number of cases, Gandhi maintains that the current Ebola outbreak is unlikely to evolve into a pandemic.
Due to the nature of the virus, safely implementing public health measures should be sufficient to contain the current outbreak.
“Ebola is a virus that is spread by close contact with the body fluids of an infected person or someone who has died from Ebola,” she emphasized.
“Since the virus is not spread by respiratory droplets and is not spread when someone is asymptomatic (prior to getting sick), we believe this viral outbreak will eventually be contained without global spread if effective contact tracing, isolation and quarantine can be performed,” Gandhi told us.
“This requires the presence of health authorities, U.S. investment back into the WHO in my opinion, and vigilance for as long as the outbreak lasts with a continuing race for the development of effective vaccines and treatments,” the infectious disease expert concluded.
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