Ebola declared a health emergency of international concern. Is NC at risk?

Doctors at UNC-Chapel Hill played an important role in Ebola research during the 2014 outbreak. Now, there’s another Ebola outbreak worrying global health experts.

Ebola disease is caused by a group of viruses found in bats. The disease causes hemorrhagic fever, marked by bleeding and organ failure. It is still transmissible after the death of a patient, and is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of infected patients, or more rarely by contact with infected animals, according to the CDC.

In 2014, an outbreak of the Zaire Ebolavirus infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000. Another Ebolavirus, Bundibugyo, was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on Sunday, May 17.

As of Wednesday, May 20, 51 cases of Bundibugyo have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But another 600 cases and 139 deaths are suspected, according to the World Health Organization.

Ebola treatment

There are no existing specific treatments or vaccines for Bundibugyo, which was first identified in 2007. The Bundibugyo virus causes death in 30% of cases. Without treatment, Ebola can kill up to 90% of those infected, according to the CDC.

Dr. David Wohl, a UNC researcher who has been involved with treatment development since 2014, said preexisting tests designed during the Zaire outbreak did not identify this form of the virus, slowing identification of the outbreak.

Outbreak containment may have also been hindered by cuts to USAID, though Wohl said many factors are at play, including the form of the virus and local disease monitoring and protocols.

“I do have concerns that it’s going to slow down and hinder our response, which is already delayed,” Wohl said, noting he is speaking from a personal perspective and not that of the university. “It shouldn’t have taken ... three or four weeks for the World Health Organization to be notified by the DRC that there was an outbreak like that.”

Wohl said that global health groups learned from the large 2014 outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic, and they will likely respond much faster this time around. However, the late start concerns him.

“That’s an advantage. But the disadvantage is we’ve had a month of the spreading, spreading into cities, potentially, and in conflict zones, where things are very unsafe and chaotic,” Wohl said.

UNC can treat Ebola patients

There are 13 hospital systems in the United States designated Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Centers, including UNC. The centers are prepared to accept Americans with exposure or symptoms of emerging diseases.

An American healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola and another with an asymptomatic exposure have been transported from the DRC to Europe for care, which Wohl said marks a departure from previous protocol.

The University of Nebraska and Emory University are also among the centers, and accepted American passengers potentially exposed to Hantavirus, another often fatal virus spread from rodents, aboard a cruise ship. One North Carolinian was sent to Omaha for observation, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

“These are things that the people catch from animals. It’s happening more frequently, and the scale is getting bigger and bigger, and that’s due to climate change, urbanization, travel, lack of infrastructure to detect these pathogens when they emerge. The list goes on,” Wohl said.

What does it mean for North Carolina?

Even if an American repatriated to UNC for Ebola care, Wohl said there is no risk to North Carolinians at home.

“Even if there was a person here with Ebola in our biocontainment unit, there’s no risk for this spreading throughout the United States. The reason it spreads in these other places is they don’t have the healthcare infrastructure, they don’t have the public health surveillance and response,” Wohl said.

Wohl said that the outbreak could be severe for people in Africa, and encouraged Americans to consider the global ramifications of Ebola, even though the risk to Americans is low.

“We talk a lot in this country about the sanctity of life, about the welfare of children, and these are people who are getting sick and dying, and they’re part of our family of humans,” Wohl said.

UNC research on Ebola

Wohl became interested in Ebola during the 2014 outbreak. He began the first clinical trial for Ebola treatment in Liberia at the end of 2014, along with Dr. William Fischer II, another UNC-based physician studying Ebola.

The pair studied plasma containing antibodies taken from Ebola survivors as a treatment for Ebola cases. Wohl and Fischer established UNC Project-Liberia, an ongoing Ebola research team in Liberia. The team’s research began as the outbreak petered out, so they pivoted to researching survivors and long-term Ebola disease effects and outcomes.

“We started doing a lot more research on survivors, including their immune system,” Wohl said. “Before we had long COVID, we had long Ebola, and we followed people and assessed them for fatigue, depression, headaches, all the things we think about now with long COVID.”

Eva Flowe

The Charlotte Observer

Eva Flowe is a North Carolina native and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. She joined the Charlotte Observer as part of the NC service journalism team in April 2026.