Ebola outbreak in DRC is ‘spreading rapidly’ with almost 750 suspected cases: WHO chief
A medical staff member disinfects a quarantine room in an Ebola treatment center in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 21, 2026. (Str/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is “spreading rapidly,” the head of the World Health Organization warned during a press briefing on Friday.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the U.N. health agency has upgraded its risk assessment for spread at the national level from “high” to “very high.” At the regional level, the risk remains “high” while the global level is still “low.”
There have been almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths from Ebola in the DRC, the WHO said in a post on X.
So far, at least 82 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in DRC as well as seven deaths, but Tedros said “we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger.”
Tedros described the situation in Uganda as “stable” with two cases confirmed in people who traveled from the DRC, with one death.
The epicenter of the current outbreak is in a “highly insecure” area — the DRC’s eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri — where ongoing armed conflict has sparked a displacement crisis, according to Tedros.
The WHO chief also acknowledged a “security incident” that took place Thursday in Ituri in which “medical tents and supplies were set on fire.” He noted that building trust in the local communities is “critical.”
The WHO’s representative in the DRC, Dr. Anne Ancia, who appeared from the field via video link during the press briefing, said Thursday’s incident “significantly jeopardized” the Ebola response operations her team is trying to initiate in the hotspot area.
She noted that there is still very low contact tracing in Ituri, particularly the city of Bunia, but that there was better contact tracing happening in North Kivu.
So far, one American has contracted Ebola in relation to the outbreak. Dr. Peter Stafford tested positive after treating patients in the eastern DRC.
He was evacuated to Germany and is currently being treated at Charite University Hospital in Berlin in an isolation ward, the hospital said.
Stafford’s wife and children, who are considered high-risk contacts, are also at the hospital and are currently in quarantine in a separate section of ward. The family is symptom free, according to the hospital.
The hospital said that Stafford does not currently require intensive care but is “severely weakened” from his illness.
The healthcare.gov website on a laptop arranged in Norfolk, Virginia, US, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — When Jessica Chamberlain went to sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for 2026, she not prepared for the sticker shock.
Last year, Chamberlain was paying $59.67 in monthly premiums. This year, she would be paying nearly $100.
The 43-year-old mother of two from Illinois said she was floored to see her monthly premiums were nearly doubling.
“I can’t afford that as a single mom with two kids,” she told ABC News.
After carefully weighing her options, Chamberlain decide to forego health insurance and is currently uninsured.
“What do I sacrifice [to pay for health insurance]? I’m diabetic,” she said. “What do I have to sacrifice to keep my medications and my health afloat?
Chamberlain is not alone. Nearly one in 10 people enrolled in the ACA Marketplace last year dropped their coverage in 2026, according to a new KFF survey published Thursday.
The findings come amid rising health care costs and the end of the enhanced premium tax credits. The tax credits helped lower the cost of monthly premiums for about 22 million Americans covered under the ACA and expired at the end of 2025, with no plans by Congress to extend them.
The survey built upon a previous KFF poll conducted in 2025 among Marketplace enrollees. Surveyors re-interviewed more than 1,100 adults between Feb. 2 and March 2, 2026.
Of the respondents, 69% said they re-enrolled in Marketplace coverage with 39% selecting the same plan and 29% switching plans.
More than half, or 51%, of returning ACA enrollees said their health care costs are “a lot higher” this year compared to last year. Of this group, four in 10 specifically said their premiums are “a lot higher.” Additionally, 80% said all health care costs — including premiums, deductibles, co-pays or coinsurance — are higher.
Meanwhile, 9% of Marketplace enrollees dropped their ACA coverage and are currently uninsured.
When asked why they decided to drop or change their coverage, most respondents said costs were the driving factor.
One of the respondents, Holly Weir, a 26-year-old from Ohio, told ABC News she was paying $30 in monthly premiums last year under a plan run by UnitedHealthcare. This year, her plan went to $177 in monthly premiums.
“I didn’t do anything to pick a new health care plan. I got the bill in the mail and I was like, ‘[Expletive]!'” Weir said. “I didn’t pay too much attention until I got the bill the next month and I was like ‘Oh my God, this isn’t from me going to see a medical provider.'”
Weir decided to cancel her insurance and has applied for Medicaid coverage. She is currently waiting to see if she will be approved.
Weir said she is a thyroid cancer survivor, and she has to see an oncologist every two months or so, in addition to taking regular medication.
“Once that runs out, I’ll get a lot more scared,” she said. “Of course, I’m not going to be stupid and leave it so long. If it does come to it, I’ll pay [for the insurance]. The idea that I would have to spend that each month is frustrating. I’m already not doing amazingly financially.”
The survey found that even those who re-enrolled in the ACA Marketplace may need to rework their household budgets.
More than half, or 55%, said they need to cut spending on food or other basic household expenses to afford their health care costs.
Among those with chronic health conditions, 62% of those who reenrolled in the ACA Marketplace said they will be cutting back on food and other basics.
The survey found that 22% of respondents did not re-enroll in the ACA Marketplace and got coverage through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid or another health plan outside the Marketplace.
Chamberlain, who also responded to the survey, said her kids qualify to be on state-run Medicaid. However, she said she doesn’t qualify because she makes too much in her current role working in probation.
She is hoping she can find another insurance plan to help cover health care costs.
“This is destroying people who have pre-existing conditions,” she said. “It is affecting people, especially single moms. We’re just trying to live.”
In this photo illustration, a laboratory test tubes containing blood to be analyzed for the Hantavirus “Orthohantavirus” outbreak, held by a nurse. (Vincenzo Izzo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo.) — Colorado public health officials are investigating the death of an adult resident as a result of hantavirus.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Douglas County Health Department said the death is not linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which led to 11 confirmed and probable cases, including two confirmed deaths and one suspected death.
The individual lived in Douglas County — located just south of Denver — but information about the patient’s name, age and sex were not immediately available.
Health officials said the individual was infected by the Sin Nombre hantavirus, which is the most common cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in North America.
HPS symptoms typically appear from one to eight weeks after contact with the virus, with early signs including fever, fatigue and muscle aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Half of HPS patients will experience headaches, chills, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.’
Between four and 10 days after the initial phase of illness, symptoms including coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest can emerge, the CDC said, adding that a patient’s lungs can fill with fluid.
“Hantavirus infections caused by the Sin Nombre hantavirus occur regularly in Colorado, usually in the spring and summer, and can cause a severe and sometimes deadly respiratory disease,” according to public health officials. “In Colorado, the deer mouse is the rodent species that most commonly exposes people to the virus. Avoiding exposure to rodents and their urine, feces, saliva, and nesting materials is the best way to prevent infection.”
According to the CDC, there were six cases of Hantavirus in Colorado from 2020 to 2023.
The logo of the WHO is seen on panel in front of the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 23, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. (Robert Hradil/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO) said that there may be some person-to-person spread in the suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship.
As of Monday, there have been seven cases reported aboard the MV Hondius, of which two are laboratory-confirmed and five are suspected. Among those seven, there have been three deaths, including a married couple from the Netherlands, one of whom has been confirmed to have been infected with hantavirus.
“We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that’s happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who’ve shared cabins, [et cetera],” Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist and director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management at the WHO, said during a press conference Tuesday.
“So again, our assumption is that has happened, and that’s why we are operating and working with the ship to make sure that anyone who is symptomatic, anyone caring for patients, is wearing full personal protective equipment,” she added.
Van Kerkhove noted that hantaviruses normally don’t transmit from person to person because it’s a “rodent infection.” Patients typically become infected when they come into contact with rodent urine, droppings or saliva, according to the WHO.
The initial patients who fell ill may have become infected before they boarded the ship, Van Kerkhove added.
Symptoms of hantavirus infections sometimes do not start until eight weeks after contact with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The WHO is working under the assumption that the strain of hantavirus in the suspected outbreak is the Andes virus, which historically has been shown to potentially transmit between people, although sequencing is still ongoing, according to Van Kerkhove.
In a post on its website, the WHO said the onset of illnesses aboard the MV Hondius occurred between April 6 and April 28, with patients experiencing fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock.
“The outbreak is being managed through coordinated international response, and includes in-depth investigations, case isolation and care, medical evacuation and laboratory investigations,” the WHO wrote in the post.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreysus wrote in a post on X Tuesday that the infection risk to the global population is low and that the agency will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates.
Timeline of cases
The first suspected hantavirus case occurred in a 70-year-old male passenger from the Netherlands who developed fever, headache and mild diarrhea on April 6, according to the WHO and South African health officials.
On April 11, the passenger developed respiratory distress and died on board the ship the same day. His body was removed from the ship to the British territory of St. Helena on April 24. No microbiological tests were performed on the man, according to the WHO.
Also on April 24, the male passenger’s 69-year-old wife developed gastrointestinal symptoms, health officials said. Her health rapidly declined while on a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 25 and she died upon arrival to an emergency department the next day, the WHO said.
On Monday, May 4, laboratory testing confirmed that the wife was infected with hantavirus.
Health workers have begun working to identify anyone who may have come into contact with the couple. According to the WHO, the couple had traveled in South America, including Argentina, before they boarded the cruise ship on April 1.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Van Kerkhove said officials suspect the couple was infected with hantavirus before boarding the ship.
“The initial patients, the initial case and his wife, they joined the boat in Argentina. And with the timing of the incubation period of hantavirus, which can be anywhere from one to six weeks, our assumption is that they were infected off the ship, perhaps doing some activities there,” she said.
A British passenger started developing symptoms on April 24, including shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia, according to the WHO and South African health officials.
His condition worsened and he was medically evacuated from Ascension, another British territory, to South Africa on April 27, where he is currently hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Laboratory testing confirmed hantavirus infection over the weekend, the WHO said.
Another passenger, an adult female, began experiencing symptoms on April 28, including a general feeling of being unwell, according to the WHO. She later presented with pneumonia and died on May 2. Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the cruise ship, previously revealed that the patient was a German national.
In addition, there are three suspected cases currently onboard the MV Hondius reporting high fever and/or gastrointestinal symptoms, the WHO said. The ship is currently off the coast of Cape Verde, where medical teams in the area are evaluating the patients and collecting additional specimens for testing, according to the WHO.
Van Kerkhove said the highest priority is to medically evacuate the symptomatic individuals onboard the ship so they receive the care they need.
“The plan now is for the ship to continue on to the Canary Islands. We’re working with Spanish authorities who will welcome the ship, have said that they will welcome the ship, to do a full investigation, a full epidemiological investigation, full disinfection of the ship, and of course to assess the risk of the passengers that are actually on board,” she said.
