What to Know About Ebola Outbreak After WHO Sounds Global Alarm

Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases on Earth. With a fatality rate as high as 90%, it’s among a handful of illnesses so dangerous that governments consider them threats to national security.

A new outbreak in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has spread to neighboring Uganda, has raised fears the virus could prove harder to contain because it involves the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or antibody treatments. On May 17, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.”