How Ebola’s silent spread poses global threat

This makes the virus extremely difficult to identify and to track suspected cases at an early stage.

On May 17, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), just two days after the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus disease. The very short interval between confirmation of the outbreak and the WHO’s declaration of a PHEIC, compared with previous outbreaks such as Mpox, Zika and SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19), which took several weeks, indicates unexpected yet serious concern regarding its severity and the silent, rapid community spread of the infection.