WHO Africa Head Warns Against Underestimating Risk of Ebola Spread

GENEVA, May 22 (Reuters) – ⁠It ⁠would be a ⁠mistake to underestimate the ​risk posed by the Ebola outbreak, ‌the WHO regional ‌director for Africa told ⁠Reuters ⁠on Friday, warning that just one case ​could spread the virus beyond the Democratic Republic of Congo ​and Uganda.

“It would be a big ⁠mistake to ⁠underestimate it, especially ⁠with ​a virus with this strain Bundibugyo, (for) ​which we ⁠don’t have the vaccine,” Mohamed Yakub Janabi said in an interview at WHO headquarters ⁠in Geneva.

“So I would really encourage everyone, let’s ⁠help each other, we can bring this thing into control,” he said.

He added that the outbreak of Ebola in Congo has had relatively little global attention compared with ⁠this month’s hantavirus outbreak, which affected cruise ship passengers from 23 countries including major powers.

(Reporting ​by Emma Farge, Editing ​by Friederike Heine)

Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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