Ebola virus is in the headlines again this week. It’s a perennial pathogen, highly contagious and extremely deadly, and its occasional flareups could threaten a global disaster. An ongoing outbreak in the the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month has already racked up more than 500 cases, killing at least 130 people.
On Monday, the U.S. announced a travel ban on Uganda and the DRC, as well as Sudan, after reports that at least six Americans were exposed to the virus, plus one doctor who tested positive, started displaying symptoms and was evacuated to Germany. The disease has spilled across Congo’s borders into Uganda, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern. Though this hasn’t yet reached the scale of a pandemic, it’s essentially an alarm bell for any country that values human life.
