WHO says risk of Ebola in World Cup host countries is low
Workers wearing protective visit a patient in an isolation unit an Ebola treatment center on June 2, 2026 in Monigi, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Daniel Buuma/Getty Images)
(GENEVA) — The World Health Organization said on Thursday that the risk of Ebola transmission in Europe and World Cup host countries is low as the tournament gets ready to kick off across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in a statement that there are currently no Ebola cases in North America or Europe amid an outbreak spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DRC has recorded 676 confirmed cases as of Thursday morning, according to DRC’s minister of health. In Uganda, there are 19 confirmed cases — many of them travel-related — and two deaths, the country’s health officials said.
Kluge made reference to an Ebola patient who was treated in the European Region after being evacuated from the outbreak region.
An American physician, Dr. Peter Stafford, tested positive for Ebola after being exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital. Stafford, a medical missionary with the mission organization Serge, was transferred to Germany and treated at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.
His wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and their four children were also transferred to the same hospital, where they were monitored in quarantine for 21 days as high-risk contacts.
Last week, the family was released from the hospital after Dr. Peter Stafford had no symptoms for more than 72 hours and a negative result in repeated PCR tests, Serge said.
“There is no reason to change your plans. Travel as normal, stay informed and enjoy the tournament,” Kluge said.
Kluge said there are several reasons why the risk is low in other countries: most cases are in remote areas of the DRC, Ebola is not an airborne illness and it is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a sick person.
Additionally, screening is in place before travel is allowed from affected regions and people are only infectious once visibly ill, according to Kluge.
The CDC has temporarily restricted entry to the U.S. for certain travelers who were recently in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan. Currently, U.S. citizens and nationals may still enter but will undergo enhanced public health screenings.
Kludge said the WHO does not recommend travel restrictions, “though if you don’t have to travel to the affected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Uganda, it is safer not to.”
He added that it’s important to challenge the stigma associated with Ebola patients and those from affected regions or African communities.
“The spread of Ebola is not determined by nationality or ethnicity,” he said. “Stigma discourages people from seeking care and can make outbreaks harder to control. Stay informed, rely on trusted sources and treat others with understanding. With common sense and compassion, we can keep both people and the game safe.”
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.
Cyclospora cayetanensis is a unicellular parasite that causes an intestinal infection called cyclosporiasis. (CDC)
(MICHIGAN) — A “large and growing” outbreak of a parasitic infection is spreading in Michigan, health officials warned this week.
As of Thursday, more than 300 cases of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal infection, have been confirmed, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) told ABC News. Typically, the state only sees about 50 cases per year, according to MDHHS.
The parasite usually spreads through food or water contaminated with feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We are working closely with our state and local partners to identify the source of this outbreak that is making so many people ill as quickly as possible,” Lynn Sutfin, public information officer for MDHHS, told ABC News.
The outbreak comes as the CDC reports 145 cases have been infected in 17 states, excluding Michigan, as of June 15, with at least 20 people hospitalized.
The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, state and local authorities are investigating several clusters of cyclosporiasis cases in multiple states.
Doctors told ABC News that cases usually start in May, so the Michigan outbreak occurred during the time or year when public health specialists typically would see a rise in cases. However, the number of cases in Michigan is particularly high, doctors said.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist and associate dean for regional campuses at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News that in years past, the U.S. used to see many cases cyclosporiasis acquired outside of the U.S, or from imported vegetables and fruits.
“But now we’re starting to have more domestic cases as well,” Chin-Hong said.
Foodborne outbreaks of cyclosporiasis have been linked to various types of imported fresh produce, such as raspberries, basil, snow peas, mesclun lettuce and cilantro, according to the CDC. The agency further said it takes about one week from the time of infection to become symptomatic, but that time can range from two days to two weeks.
Some patients do not experience any symptoms but, for those who do, the most common symptom is “explosive watery diarrhea,” Dr. Zoe Weiss, director of clinical microbiology at Tufts Medical Center, told ABC News.
Other symptoms can include cramping, bloating, low-grade fever, nausea and vomiting, Weiss said.
“Though in most cases this illness causes discomfort from cramping, bloating and watery diarrhea, we are concerned about individuals who may be immunocompromised due to cancer treatment or an organ transplant as the effects may be more severe,” Sutfin from MDHHS said.
Weiss said the infection is very unlikely to spread from person-to-person “because the parasite is passed in the stool, and then it requires days to weeks of formulation in the environment before it can become infectious.”
Chin-Hong said that oftentimes people dismiss watery diarrhea, but it is important to get a diagnosis to get treatment as soon as possible.
Cyclosporiasis is treated with the oral antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), commonly sold as Bactrim, Septra and Cotrim, taken for 10 days, according to the CDC.
Doctors told ABC News that people can prevent infection by thoroughly washing produce, cutting away bruised or damaged parts of fruits and vegetables, and refrigerating pre-prepared or pre-cut produce.
“If you’re in an area that’s been affected and you have sudden ongoing watery diarrhea, you should definitely seek a physician and get treatment,” Weiss said.
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.
