ebola

Musk says work to stop Ebola was accidentally cut but restored. Experts raise doubts

2:53pm February 27, 2025

Elon Musk said USAID's "Ebola prevention" was "accidentally canceled" but "immediately" restored. Health specialists following the current outbreak in Uganda raise doubts about the restoration.

Joel Breman trains scientists in malaria diagnosis in Côte d'Ivoire, 1986. Breman died this month at age 87.

Remembering Joel Breman, Ebola pioneer and beloved global health mentor

4:50pm April 12, 2024

by Joanne Silberner

Pioneering disease investigator and beloved global health mentor Joel Breman died on April 6 at the age of 87. Breman was part of the team that investigated the first known Ebola outbreak in 1976.

Janine Kibwana, Ebola survivor and mother of five, sits in her living room in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Researchers studying the DRC's most recent Ebola outbreak say that a new vaccine can dramatically reduce the risk of dying from the disease.

Ebola vaccine cuts death rates in half — even if it's given after infection

12:43pm February 15, 2024

by Ari Daniel

Ebola is one of the most feared infectious diseases, with more than half of those infected dying. A vaccine has now been shown to cut that mortality rate in half.

Long-time collaborators Pardis Sabeti (right) of the Broad Institute and Christian Happi of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria, are developing an early-warning system that could flag an emerging pandemic .

Scientific dynamic duo aims to stop the next pandemic before it starts

7:01am September 25, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Two scientists, one Nigerian and one American, created a cutting-edge surveillance network to catch the next emerging disease before it becomes a pandemic.

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For over 20 years, Dr. Daniel Bausch has responded to disease outbreaks, spending months at a time treating patients with diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, Lassa fever and Ebola. Now he's focusing on the importance of diagnostics. It's "one of the key aspects of preparedness," he says.

Health & Safety

This doctor fought Ebola in the trenches. Now he's got a better way to stop diseases

8:21am April 09, 2023

by Nurith Aizenman

Dr. Daniel Bausch says of his work, "You realize that's all on the response side." He's come to appreciate that "the impact is with trying to change the system."

The World Health Organization led this measles vaccination campaign in India in 1974 — reflecting its mission "to promote and protect the health of all peoples."

8 bold agenda items for the World Health Organization as it turns 75

12:26pm April 06, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Pay more attention to teens, ethics, the planet, long COVID and more. NPR asks public health leaders what this U.N.-created agency should add to its docket in this anniversary year.

Bats congregate in the Bat Cave in Queen Elizabeth National Park on August 24, 2018. Scientists placed GPS devices on some of the bats to determine flight patterns and how they transmit Marburg virus to humans. Approximately 50,000 bats dwell in the cave.

The Marburg outbreak in Equatorial Guinea is a concern — and a chance for progress

12:22pm February 17, 2023

by Fran Kritz

Marburg virus is hard to detect early on--and goes on to kill about half its victims. Researchers hope to work quickly during this outbreak to make progress on emerging vaccines and treatments.

Students learn about Ebola in class at St. Claire Primary School in Kampala, Uganda. Schools will be closing early because of Ebola outbreak. Kids in Uganda have already missed two years of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Uganda ends school year early as it tries to contain growing Ebola outbreak

7:00am November 10, 2022

by Max Barnhart

Since the outbreak began in September, eight children have died — and there is no approved vaccine. But doctors are hopeful that public health measures may be enough to stop the spread.

Dr. Benjamin Black in front of the Gondama Referral Center in Sierra Leone, where he worked during the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016. The center treated children and women in urgent need of obstetric and gynecological care. As the outbreak exploded, the center decided to stop admitting pregnant women, a decision that still weighs on Black.

A doctor's Ebola memoir is all too timely with a new outbreak in Uganda

6:29pm October 28, 2022

by Susan Brink

Dr. Benjamin Black talks about Belly Woman: Birth, Blood and Ebola — the inside story of what it was like to face a terrifying epidemic in West Africa.

Doctors walk in the Ebola isolation section of Mubende Regional Referral Hospital, in Mubende, Uganda, on Sept. 29. Ugandan health officials have declared an Ebola outbreak in several regions of the country.

Travelers coming to the U.S. from Uganda will face enhanced screening for Ebola

5:36pm October 06, 2022

by Halisia Hubbard

With an outbreak of the deadly disease declared in Uganda, travelers who have been to the African country within 21 days of arriving in the U.S. will be subject to enhanced screening.