Ebola Outbreak: What CDC is Doing

What CDC is doing

CDC is responding to a major outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is the second-largest Ebola disease outbreak and continues to grow rapidly.

Additional cases linked to people who had traveled to DRC were identified in Uganda and France. To prevent further spread of this outbreak, CDC, other U.S. government agencies, governments in the region, and international partners are collaborating to respond.

In affected and neighboring countries

CDC headquarters and its offices in affected and neighboring countries are working with other U.S. government agencies, health ministries in affected countries, humanitarian organizations, and other partners on this evolving situation to

• Support response and preparedness efforts in DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Angola, and South Sudan, building on CDC's long-standing partnerships in the region.
• Provide extensive clinical guidance and training for healthcare providers and others outside the United States.
• Provide resources to support technical assistance to help affected countries with
  • Disease tracking and contact tracing to identify cases, monitor disease transmission, and guide timely response decisions
  • Laboratory diagnostic testing for rapid confirmation of suspected Ebola cases and evaluation of new diagnostic tests
  • Information on Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Settings and the proper use of Personal Protective Equipment to reduce the risk of Ebola transmission among healthcare workers and in communities
  • Public health measures at their borders, including exit screening, mapping of population movement patterns, and cross-border coordination to strengthen detection and reduce the risk of Ebola spreading across borders in a region with frequent cross-border travel
  • Risk communication and community engagement to learn more about what communities need to share accurate information and help prevent the spread of Ebola disease

• More than 500 CDC staff are participating in the response at CDC headquarters, in affected countries, and at U.S. airports.

Readiness at home

To promote readiness in the United States for any possible importation of Ebola into the country, CDC is

• Providing extensive clinical guidance that includes strict infection prevention and control measures for U.S. hospitals evaluating suspected cases. This includes a Health Alert Network advisory to inform clinicians and health departments about this outbreak and CDC's recommendations.
• Ensuring rapid testing capacity through CDC's long-standing Laboratory Response Network, which is available directly at CDC or through public health laboratories nationwide
• Providing regular situation reports to critical federal partners and domestic public health and clinical organizations, such as hospital associations, urgent care, and emergency medical services
• Providing technical assistance to public health labs, epidemiologists, and health officials
• Working closely with health departments across all jurisdictions in the United States, including U.S. territories, localities, and tribes, by
  • Publishing public health information in the event that a case of Ebola disease is imported into the United States; recommendations for managing people with suspected or confirmed Ebola disease, or who may have had a high-risk exposure; and recommendations for monitoring travelers who were in an affected country
  • Providing weekly response updates to thousands of public health experts

• CDC maintains recommendations for U.S.-based nongovernmental, community-based, faith-based, academic, or aid organizations with staff working in areas affected by Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) outbreaks.

Preventing spread to the United States

CDC is working to prevent Ebola from entering the country by setting travel measures for people coming from countries affected by this outbreak.

• Some travelers coming from affected countries are temporarily not allowed to enter the United States. Other public health measures apply to returning U.S. travelers.
• If you are a U.S. traveler leaving an affected country, CDC advises you to monitor your health for 21 days. If you develop symptoms, immediately isolate and contact public health authorities.

CDC issued Travel Health Notices for parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

For travelers

• A Level 4 Travel Health Notice for Ituri and Nord-Kivu Provinces of DRC recommends avoiding all travel.
• A Level 3 Travel Health Notice for parts of DRC recommends avoiding nonessential travel to affected provinces.
• A Level 2 Travel Health Notice covers Uganda and unaffected DRC provinces recommends practicing enhanced health precautions.
• Also see restrictions and requirements around travel from countries affected by this outbreak aimed at preventing Ebola from entering the United States.

Risk assessment and modeling

On June 5, 2026, CDC published two reports in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report with projections of the potential size of the outbreak and a risk estimate for the U.S. population over the following three months. Based on CDC modeling, the risk from this outbreak to the general population of the United States is currently considered low.

• To control the current outbreak and keep it from growing into a larger Ebola epidemic, large-scale, rapid public health actions would be needed immediately.
• Even with those actions, many of the scenarios showed the outbreak could grow to 10,000 or more cases and more than 4,000 deaths within 3 months.
• If a person with Ebola were to be identified in the United States, the risk of it spreading in the community would be considered low, based on historical experience and what is known about how Bundibugyo virus spreads.
• The United States has a strong public health system, access to high-quality health care, and infection prevention and control measures in hospitals that would be expected to help limit spread of disease.