When Georgia Lagoudas testified in front of the Rhode Island State legislature, lawmakers in the packed, poorly ventilated room were restless and unfocused.

The room had already exceeded near-toxic carbon dioxide levels set by the US federal occupational health agency. At 6,000 CO2 parts per million, breathing air can lead to fatigue, headaches, reduced cognitive function, and nausea.

Two deadly outbreaks that could threaten Americans are unfolding simultaneously—Ebola in one part of the world, hantavirus in another—with mortality rates of 25 to 50 percent and 38 percent, respectively, and no approved vaccines or treatments for either. For now, what are most alarming are not the outbreaks themselves but the slow and uncoordinated responses by the institutions that Americans rely on to keep them safe, including the U.S. government and the World Health Organization. If the world cannot properly handle known threats that it has contained before, then it is dangerously unprepared for the next novel one.

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Trump administration officials, confronted by overlapping outbreaks of Ebola and the hantavirus, have taken a more aggressive approach to locking down potentially exposed people than in past outbreaks, surprising many public health experts.

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As soon as I heard about the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I knew it was going to be catastrophic.

On Friday, the D.R.C. reported 246 suspected cases. Most Ebola outbreaks end before they get that big. The same day, reports emerged that someone had died of Ebola hundreds of miles away in Kampala, Uganda’s most populous city. Less than a week after it was first declared, this is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak in history.

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A deadly Ebola outbreak is continuing to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, with officials on Tuesday saying there were more than 600 confirmed and suspected cases and more than 100 suspected deaths.

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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) was “a little late” in identifying the deadly Ebola outbreak in the the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

On Tuesday, Rubio told reporters: “The lead is obviously going to be CDC [Centers for Disease Control] and the World Health Organization, which was a little late to identify this thing unfortunately.”

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As health workers and humanitarian groups rush to try and contain an Ebola outbreak spreading through eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a former UK government minister has warned the outbreak should be "a wake-up call" about the danger of cutting UK and US aid.

More than 100 people have died in DRC and cases have spread to neighbouring Uganda, with Rwanda and South Sudan now on high alert.

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Dr. Craig Spencer, who was infected with Ebola when treating patients in an outbreak in 2014 , tells ABC News he is “certain” the current outbreak is “much bigger” than what current numbers show.

"My biggest concern about this outbreak is that we learned way too much way too quickly for this to be anything but really bad,” Spencer said.

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The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius arrived at its last stop Monday. Now the waiting begins.

The diagnosis of a strain of the Andes strain of hantavirus — an infection that’s fatal in about 40% of cases — on a ship carrying people from roughly two dozen countries has given public health officials around the globe their first major test in controlling contagion since the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries are choosing different strategies to monitor potentially exposed passengers and stop the spread of the disease and to communicate with a nervous public anxious that the virus may have come closer to home.

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Health officials are racing to contain a rapidly expanding outbreak of Ebola in Africa. At least 116 suspected deaths and more than 300 other cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda. The CDC says an American medical missionary has contracted the disease. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Dr. Craig Spencer, who contracted Ebola during a 2014 outbreak.

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Angela Perryman, an American passenger exposed to the deadly hantavirus on a cruise ship this month, expected a short stay at a special quarantine facility in Nebraska after her arrival last week.

On Monday, after making plans to depart, she received a federal order requiring her to stay for at least two more weeks. Health officials said they would contact law enforcement if she tried to leave.

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The World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of Ebola virus in Africa a global health emergency. NPR's A Martinez asks Brown University's Dr. Craig Spencer what doctors are facing.

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The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Saturday due to the rapid spread of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Ebola causes severe hemorrhagic fever and is often fatal. There’s no approved vaccine for the strain of Ebola responsible for the current outbreak, known as the Bundibugyo variant. The WHO said in a statement that the outbreak is potentially much larger “than what is currently being detected and reported.”

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By the time health officials confirmed new Ebola infections in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week, the total number of suspected cases meant the outbreak ​was already one of the largest on record.

A series of challenges and missteps delayed detection, two Congolese officials familiar with the response told Reuters, allowing the disease to spread unde
tected into ‌rebel-held territory in the east and across the border to the capital of Uganda.

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The World Health Organization has declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern. This is the most serious designation short of a pandemic emergency, which was how COVID-19 was classified.
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The World Health Organization declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to be a "public health emergency of international concern" on Sunday.

However WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a statement it "does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency" and advised countries against closing their borders.
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The World Health Organization declared on Saturday that the spread of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda was a global health emergency.

The announcement was made a day after Africa’s leading public health authority reported that an outbreak in a province in the northeast of the country was linked to dozens of suspected deaths.

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Even as hantavirus cases on a cruise ship continue to cause concern, about one-fourth of states are not fully prepared to manage a public health emergency if one should come their way, a report found.
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Africa’s leading public health authority said on Friday that there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus in a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of infections suspected.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the public health agency of the African Union, said 65 deaths from Ebola had been reported in the northeastern province of Ituri, though only four had been definitively linked to the virus through laboratory testing. The agency said that 246 suspected infections had been reported in Ituri and that 13 had been confirmed.

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Americans are currently quarantining at a federally funded facility in Nebraska for up 42 days.
No state or federal orders have been given to keep them from leaving the facility to quarantine somewhere else.
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Given the enormous toll of the COVID-19 pandemic — responsible for more than 1.2 million U.S. deaths and a complete upheaval of Americans’ lives — infectious disease experts aren’t surprised hantavirus outbreak on an international cruise ship stoked fear.

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Arriving in the isolation ward of a biocontainment hospital is an unsettling, scary experience. In 2014, I spent 19 days in one while being treated for Ebola, watching the news cycle churn around me as my world receded to a small window, a phone, and the handful of providers in protective suits who came into my room every day.

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Thrust back into the front line by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, infectious disease experts have to balance informing the public about its potential risks without provoking undue fear of a Covid-scale pandemic.

The deaths of three cruise ship passengers during a rare hantavirus outbreak has sparked international alarm -- and flashbacks to when the world tipped into a pandemic six years ago.

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Since the first sign of an outbreak, the reminders have come from government officials, health agencies and plenty of experts: There’s no reason to worry. Don’t panic. It’s under control.

“We have this under control, and we’re not worried about it,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a briefing Monday when asked about the hantavirus outbreak that has moved from cruise ship to quarantine.

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As more than five million fans around the globe prepare to travel to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, concerns over disease outbreaks are growing.

Dr. William Goedel, an epidemiologist and affiliate faculty at Brown University’s Pandemic Center, created a map to help keep tabs on the movement of teams and fans as they watch 104 tournament games from the opening match June 11 to the final on July 19.

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Passengers from the Hondius cruise ship are being repatriated under a patchwork of measures that reflect uncertainty over how this strain of hantavirus spreads, complicating efforts to contain the deadly outbreak.

Some passengers are being placed in biocontainment units, notably in France, for at least two weeks. Australia plans to quarantine passengers in a purpose-built facility outside Perth. But in the Netherlands, most are being asked to self-isolate for six weeks, with short outdoor walks permitted under masking and distancing rules.

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A new report has put Iowa in the lowest tier when it comes to public health emergency preparedness.

The annual Ready or Not report by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health evaluates each state’s preparedness by looking at indicators like workforce mobility and public health funding. This year, it moved Iowa down from the middle tier to the low tier.

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After Trump Admin. slashed federal research funding, cut CDC staffing & purged cruise ship inspectors and port health staff, Brown University pandemic expert says incident: “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now”

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NEW YORK (AP) — No quick dispatching of disease investigators. No televised news conference to inform the public. No timely health alerts to doctors.

In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.

Seventeen Americans who are currently on board the Dutch cruise ship enduring a hantavirus outbreak will make their way back to the United States on a repatriation flight arranged by the Department of State.

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In late January 2020, an 80-year-old boarded the Diamond Princess in Yokohama with a cough. It was one of the first major outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 outside China. As the British cruise ship sailed from Yokohama to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Okinawa and back, the still-new virus spread throughout the vessel.

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The Georgia Department of Public Health is continuing to monitor two residents exposed to hantavirus aboard a cruise ship last month. Officials could monitor the couple for up to 45 days, Emory University epidemiologist Jodie Guest said.

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Maryland remains better prepared to combat public health emergencies than most other states, but federal shakeups in staffing and funding could threaten those protections, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health.
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Texas’ ability to respond to public health emergencies like disease outbreaks and natural disasters is at risk because of historic federal funding cuts last year, a report released Thursday, May 7, concluded.

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Fewer than half of U.S. states are sufficiently prepared for a health emergency, according to research released Thursday.

Only 20 states scored “high” on the annual report from Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on national public health emergency preparedness. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., scored in the “middle tier,” and 13 states fell into the “low tier.”

A cruise ship that left from Argentina on April 1 is currently at the center of an outbreak of hantavirus, a virus that most commonly spreads through rodent droppings and saliva. The virus causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to death.

William Goedel, Brown Faculty Fellow in University History, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, recounts the history of Brown University’s earliest educational offerings in public health in the late 19th and early 20th centuries alongside the school’s long-standing partnerships with Rhode Island’s city and state public health agencies. Goedel also offers a vision for a strengthened academic-government partnership to meet the challenges of protecting and promoting the public’s health in the 21st century.

What we learned from South Carolina’s measles outbreak

The recent measles outbreak in South Carolina sickened nearly 1,000 people before public health officials got it under control. Vaccination can effectively prevent further spread

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to remake the U.S. vaccination schedule is on hold following a federal judge’s decision last month, but the health secretary is still using his power to affect which shots children in poor countries receive.

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The Mississippi Public Health Laboratory is temporarily outsourcing some services to neighboring states after building repairs forced the facility to pause roughly a third of the tests it performs, including those for HIV, flu, COVID-19, whooping cough and measles.

The COVID pandemic overwhelmed our health care system and killed well over a million Americans. Fast-tracked vaccines saved millions, but missteps in the response and misinformation online have damaged trust. Horizons moderator William Brangham explores the state of America’s public health system and whether it's prepared for the next pandemic with Dr. Josh Sharfstein and Elizabeth Cameron.

Over the past two decades, we have grown accustomed to describing pandemics and biological emergencies as “once-in-a-generation” events. That framing no longer holds. What we are facing is not a sequence of rare shocks, but a structural shift in risk—one driven by climate disruption, ecological pressure, global mobility, and the accelerating convergence of artificial intelligence with the life sciences.

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On Saturday, the Rhode Island Department of Health confirmed the state’s first measles case of 2026. The state’s last confirmed measles case was in January 2025 — the first since 2013.

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Hegseth says U.S. military no longer requires flu vaccination, drawing criticism from health experts

The decision to no longer enforce mandatory annual flu shots for military personnel could mean more troops will get sick during flu season, one expert says
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Vaccination is one of the most successful global health interventions in history, eradicating or eliminating some of the deadliest diseases through decades of coordinated effort. But that success is increasingly under pressure. Trust in vaccines has declined globally, fueled by the proliferation of misinformation and growing politicization of public health, making rising vaccine hesitancy one of the defining global health threats today.

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President Donald Trump nominated former Deputy Surgeon General Erica Schwartz, a physician, as director of the Centers for ​Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Schwartz is a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as a deputy surgeon general during the COVID-19 pandemic in Trump's first term. Schwartz played a key role in the nation's COVID response, helping coordinate national preparedness during the first year of the pandemic.
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From a once-in-a-century global pandemic, to wars in Europe and the Middle East, to the unchecked rise of AI and social media technologies, we are living in an age of threats against humanity that are profound, fast-moving, and interconnected.

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In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas, Mark Lynas speaks with Dr Seth Berkley, infectious disease epidemiologist, former CEO of Gavi, and co-founder of COVAX, about what the world got right and wrong during COVID-19.

They discuss vaccine equity, pandemic preparedness, the politicisation of public health, and why the world remains dangerously vulnerable to future outbreaks. From the rapid development of mRNA vaccines to the rise of vaccine disinformation and the growing threat of H5N1 bird flu, this conversation is a sobering reminder that pandemics do not end just because societies stop wanting to talk about them.

In the afternoon on Friday, March 27, Georgetown University’s Medical and Dental Building turned into a site of organized chaos as an unknown infection struck. Dozens of people hustled through the hallways, trying to earn enough money to buy food and stay healthy. Public health staffers tried their best to execute their roles, some with little prior experience, the atmosphere creating a trial by fire. Government instructions were scant, and media reports were often conflicting. It was a palpable frenzy of activity and cooperation.
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