The United States has announced a sweeping set of new public‑health precautions to curb the potential spread of Ebola, including airport screening for travellers from affected regions and the temporary suspension of visa services in Uganda. The measures follow the World Health Organization’s declaration of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an international health emergency.
Satish Pillai, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response incident manager, confirmed that one American working in the DRC had contracted the virus. The individual developed symptoms over the weekend, tested positive on Sunday and is now being transported to Germany for treatment. US officials are also working to evacuate six additional people for monitoring.
Pillai said around 25 personnel are currently stationed at the CDC’s field office in the DRC, and the agency is sending a senior technical coordinator to support the response. While the CDC assesses the immediate risk to the US public as low, it warned that measures may change as the situation evolves.
Alongside airport screening, the US is imposing entry restrictions on non‑US passport holders who have travelled to Uganda, the DRC or South Sudan within the past 21 days. The US embassy in Kampala has paused all visa services, notifying affected applicants.
The outbreak has already claimed 91 suspected deaths, according to Congolese Health Minister Samuel‑Roger Kamba. Roughly 350 suspected cases have been reported, with most patients aged between 20 and 39, and more than 60 percent of them women. There is currently no vaccine or targeted treatment for the strain driving the surge.
The US response has drawn criticism from global‑health experts. Matthew Kavanagh of Georgetown University said the measures were “disappointing,” arguing that travel bans are “more theater than effective public health measures.” He said the administration’s decision to withdraw from the WHO and cut USAID funding has weakened the country’s ability to respond quickly, noting that during previous outbreaks, coordinated efforts between USAID, the CDC and US‑funded nonprofits helped contain the virus early.
“This time, we’re weeks into an outbreak and only finding out about it after hundreds of cases and major spread including to the capital city of Uganda,” Kavanagh said, adding that the US is now “playing catch up.”
The CDC says it will continue deploying personnel to affected regions, supporting contact tracing, laboratory testing and outbreak‑containment efforts in partnership with international health agencies.
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