Transcript - Update on Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, 5/22/2026

Please Note: This transcript is not edited and may contain errors.

00:00:00 Operator

Good morning and thank you all for standing by.

For the duration of today's call all listeners are in listen only mode until the question answer session at that time critical members of the media press can press star one to ask a question or star 2 to withdraw a question.

Today's call is being recorded if you have any objections please disconnect at this time I will now introduce Mr Benjamin Haynes thank you Sir you made it.

00:00:23 Benjamin Haynes, CDC Moderator

Thank you, Ted, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm joined by Dr. Satish Pillai, the lead for CDC's Ebola Response, who will provide a brief update before we open up for your questions. I'll now turn the call over to Dr. Pillai.

00:00:38 CAPT Satish K. Pillai [suh-TEESH puh-LYE], M.D., M.P.H., Incident Manager for CDC's Ebola response

Thanks, Ben, and thank you for joining us again. This, as I've said repeatedly, remains a rapidly evolving and fluid situation and CDC continues to work around the clock with our federal and international partners to support the response.

Today, I want to explain our understanding of how this outbreak was identified and unfolded. In early May, there were suspected viral hemorrhagic fever cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Ituri Province Region. While initial gene expert testing was negative, because that test did not detect the less common Bundibugyo Ebola species, Ministry of Health colleagues moved to perform additional testing due to a high index of suspicion.

Those subsequent samples were transported to the capital. But due to distance, transport conditions, and regional security constraints, there was what we believe to be some specimen degradation and once viable samples were available for testing and tested at CDC supported laboratories in Kinshasa, a positive result specific for Bundibugyo virus was obtained within 24 hours by our ministry colleagues and genomic sequencing was completed by them within another 24 hours.

CDC did not wait for the final sequencing results to begin response activities. We engaged with our ministry and interagency colleagues within hours of notification and have continued to expand those efforts as additional information has become available.

Yesterday CDC issued updated guidance to help health departments, clinicians, and travelers understand what to expect, including post arrival monitoring procedures and public health recommendations for travelers arriving from affected countries.

Now, I want to pivot to CDC 's current response posture in the affected region. We continue to support DRC and Uganda country offices and Ministry of Health colleagues with near term focus on expanding infection prevention and control efforts, strengthening contact tracing and surveillance operations, accelerating laboratory confirmation, addressing logistical gaps, and enhancing risk communication in community engagement.

How we're doing this in DRC is through our funding partners, including surging 20 trained disease detectives to the outbreak zone. Additionally, through partners, we are training 50 community healthcare workers to strengthen local capacity for early reporting. In Uganda, 23 CDC trained field epidemiologists are supporting response operations.

Beyond that, and beyond the capacity of our existing country offices, we are preparing to deploy 7 additional headquarters based subject matter experts of viral hemorrhagic fever to DRC and Uganda to support our country office team. And we'll continue to work across the United States Government to support the broader U.S. government efforts.

I want to step back for a moment and remind everyone that you cannot get Ebola from passing someone in an airport, sitting near someone briefly, or through other casual contact; and it's also important to note that as with any outbreak response, information will continue to evolve and CDC will continue to update guidance and work with you as we learn more.

Currently, the risk to the United States remains low, because Ebola is spread through direct contact with body fluids and because the United States has a strong public health monitoring, infection control, and healthcare preparedness system in place.

And with that, I will close...and I'm happy to take questions and just remind everyone that our highest priority is the health of those affected and the health security of Americans both at home and abroad.

00:05:21 Mr. Haynes

Thank you Dr. Pillai. Ted, we are ready to open up for questions.

00:05:26 Operator

The phone lines are now open for questions. If you are a credentialed member of the media and would like to ask a question please press *1 and record your name to withdraw your question press *2. The first question in the queue is from Melody Schreiber with Guardian U.S. Your line is now open.

00:05:45 Melody Schreiber, The Guardian U.S.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. What are the risks of Americans and residents returning to the U.S. after visiting DRC. For instance, if someone traveled to Kinshasa, they have a legal right to return to the U.S. is there a reason to stop them?

00:06:03 Dr. Pillai

You broke up at the beginning. Could you please repeat the front end of your question?

00:06:08 Melody Schreiber, The Guardian U.S.

Yeah! What are the risks of Americans and residents returning to the U.S. after visiting DRC? And then, if someone had traveled to Kinshasa can legally return to the U.S., is there a reason they should be stopped?

00:06:24 Dr. Pillai

This remains, as I said before, the U.S. is putting in place travel measures to limit risk. This is an evolving situation and the outbreak in the affected areas continues to expand. And with that in mind, that is why CDC has initiated entry screening processes, and which is a part of an overall broader, layered public health approach-starting with exit screening,

airline illness reporting, and public health monitoring after arrival. I think the critical piece here is this is evolving, that we will continue to assess, and we will adjust accordingly.

Thank you.

00:07:14 Melody Schreiber, The Guardian U.S.

Quick follow up if someone wasn't in the affected region though if they were in DRC but not in the places where it's spreading are there risks through us of them returning here.

00:07:27 Dr. Pillai

Right now, the DRC is considered the affected area and given the size and expanding nature of the outbreak, the guidance that we provided online yesterday allow our Healthcare screeners, the experts that do this, to appropriately evaluate that risk. And we want Americans at home to ... understanding information and take the necessary precautions to keep themselves and their communities safe.

00:08:03 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:08:06 Operator

Next question is from Anthony Stitt with Healio. Your line is open.

00:08:11 Anthony Stitt, Healio

Thank you so much for taking my call. Doctor, can you please speak on the report that the US refused to allow the American doctor infected with Ebola to return home. Thank you.

00:08:25 Dr. Pillai

Yeah. As I said before, the U.S. government moved as quickly and expeditiously as possible to identify the fastest most appropriate level of care for affected individuals in that weekend last weekend and into the early part of this week.

00:08:52 Mr. Haynes

Next question please, Ted.

00:08:54 Operator

Next question is from Leigh Ann Winick, CBS News; your line is open.

00:08:59 Leigh Ann Winick, CBS News

Thank you, good morning. I wanted to focus on exit testing when travelers from the 3 affected countries leaves are they being exit tested? And is that how is that done? And is that sufficient, in your mind?

00:09:18 Dr. Pillai

At present exit screening is occurring which consists of an assessment and things like temperature screening and not testing.

00:09:37 Leigh Ann Winick, CBS News

And then could you just also elaborate on what's being done at Dulles and whether that could expand to other airports?

00:09:45 Dr. Pillai

Yeah, so right now we are putting their place as I said before the travel measures to limit risk that. The key issues with Dulles are the individuals who receive temperature monitoring they will have a brief questionnaire, and evaluation and based on the guidance that was posted and shared with state and local health departments, we are providing the traveling public an assessment and next steps regarding their onward movement based on that screening. Set of questions and evaluation.

And I will also add that this is a process that CDC in conjunction with other federal partners like Customs and Border patrol have instituted multiple times successfully in conjunction with state and local health departments and I would, of course, referring you to our website for the details of the guidance.

00:10:55 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:10:58 Operator

Next question is from Michael Errman, with Reuters; your line is open.

00:11:03 Michael Errman, Reuters

Hi, thank you! Authorities in Germany have said that they the patient in over there has received some treatments what treatments is that patient being given and, also are the high risk contacts receiving any treatments for? Per you know prophylaxis.

00:11:30 Dr. Pilai

So given individual patient information is not something that we typically discuss at CDC what I can say is that working with our interagency partners especially ASPR BARDA, state department and in transit and in conjunction with the facilities that perceived individual post exposure; prophylaxis was provided and therapies were administered to the symptomatic individual. I would defer to the facility, the treating providers and of course our colleagues. ASPR BARDA for additional details on the specifics.

00:12:14 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:12:17 Operator

Next question is from Joseph Choi with The Hill. Your line is open.

00:12:22 Joseph Choi, The Hill

Hi thank you for having this briefing. How do you respond to claims from clinicians on the ground saying that the dissolution of USA... and the withdrawal of US funding from global health organizations like WHO contributed to worsening or kind of deterring the response to this outbreak?

00:12:52 Dr. Pillai

I might pivot back to the earlier comment, and actually, let me take a step back CDC has had a long-standing relationship and engagement with the Ministry of Health we have a country office and we work through our implementing partners.

As I alluded to earlier, we provided the support and help with the confirmation of that initial test that came back positive and we were rapidly engaged at when post the result and continue to engage and respond and we are supporting contact tracing we're supporting laboratory efforts infection prevention control.

Efforts, and so I think for how we are approaching this and how we are working at CDC through our implementing partners, it is based on those existing relationships that we have had and we have built over 2 decades.

00:13:59 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:14:02 Operator

The next question is from Kevyn Stewart, WAGA Fox 5, Atlanta your line is open.

00:14:09 Kevyn Stewart, WAGA Fox 5, Atlanta

Good morning, I had a question of the current travel restrictions how will they impact people traveling from the DRC to the US for the World Cup?

00:14:21 Dr. Pillai

You know, we continue to work across the federal government and with international partners to support a safe and healthy World Cup for athletes, fans and visitors and you know. We continue to coordinate with FIFA as well and as part of that you know we will.

Continue to discuss the move plans and determine the safe movement and arrival of individuals from the affected regions.

00:14:55 Mr. Haynes

Next.

00:14:55 Kevyn Stewart, WAGA Fox 5, Atlanta

A quick follow up, so looking at the timeline though the 30 days, the 21 days, I should say, can you explain that better?

00:15:03 Dr. Pillai

So again, these guidances are relevant for individuals that may have been in the effective regions within the past 21 days, so I think that is the first point and then, based on that there will be subsequent decisions based on the types of activities and where they were in transit before any discussion and of course coordination with the ministries, FIFA and across the US government.

00:15:40 Kevyn Stewart, WAGA Fox 5, Atlanta

Thank you.

00:15:41 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:15:44 Operator

Next question is from Jonathan Lambert with NPR; your line is now open.

00:15:50 Jonathan Lambert, NPR

Thanks for taking my question can you explain why your routing people through only one airport Dulles and in the past it's been multiple airports, is this like a resource limitation issue or can you explain your reasoning there.

00:16:06 Dr. Pillai

Thank you for the question first and I'd alluded to this I believe yesterday.

One of the things that to keep in mind is the part of the world that we're having the travel redirections applied to the amount of inbound travel from DRC and South Sudan and Uganda. Our experts in global migration determined that the initial port of entry was something that met the demand and we... As something that we will continue to evaluate and determine based on what the demand may be appropriately adjusting to accommodate any additional needs.

00:17:06 Mr. Haynes

Next question please.

00:17:09 Operator

Next question is from Meg Terrell with CNN your line is open.

00:17:13 Meg Tirrell, CNN

Thank you I was wondering if you could just go back over the response numbers that you mentioned at the top and help us understand what is new in terms of people you might be newly sending into the region versus folks who are already working there and in particular you mentioned surging 20 training disease detectives... Are those EIS officers from CDC and are they newly entering the area thanks?

00:17:41 Dr. Pillai

This, let me let me start again you've asked about our existing capacities and the surging capacity, so we have over 2 dozen staff in our DRC country office and that is across. High direct hires and locally employed staff... In addition to that those part of the country office supports multiple implementing partners that work across a constellation of activities from epidemiology contact tracing case identification, community engagement and training laboratory support.

The 20 individuals I refer to are funded partner epidemiologists that are now moving into the outbreak zone so that is part of that's the 20 similarly the 23 staff that I reported that are supporting DRI Uganda efforts are the field epidemiology training program, a CDC funded program of epidemiologists from Uganda that are supporting response efforts and in addition to those surging staff we have additional deployments I alluded to yesterday. A CDC staff member who had arrived to serve in that technical senior coordination role in DRC. We have additional deployers, the 7 that are going across the 2 countries and I think the most important thing is we will continue to meet the needs that our country offices have identified and will support from Atlanta as they identify them.

00:19:43 Mr. Haynes

We have time for 2 more questions.

00:19:47 Operator

OK the next question is from Ken Atucher with USA TODAY your line is Now open.

00:19:54 Ken Alltucker, USA Today

Hi thanks for taking this call could you speak to the testing capability in the DRC for people who were screened who need further testing whether it's PCR testing or another rapid diagnostic as well as folks incoming into Dulles as they're screened if a case needs further testing, is there sufficient PCR testing here?

00:20:19 Dr. Pillai

Let me let me start with the second question I want to reassure everyone that the United States has the capacity to test for Ebola and specifically Ebola Bondibugyo virus through our laboratory response. The network, the CDC supported integrated laboratory system across the United... We have labs in the greater, in the Dulles area across the jurisdictions, that we have been in active communication with and capacity exists.

The first part of your question regarding capacity, we are actively working to ensure that our Ministry of Health colleagues have the laboratory resources they need to appropriately manage the scale and scope of the outbreak and this is ongoing as I said, it's fast moving and additional resources are moving into the field.

00:21:33 Mr. Haynes

And our last question please.

00:21:37 Operator

Yes. the last question comes from Jessica Nix with Bloomberg News your line is open.

00:21:43 Anthony Stitt, Healio

Hey thank you so much for taking my question earlier this week the WHO mentioned that Merck has a shot that is a potential candidate that would best suited for this particular strain of Ebola the WHO also said that getting it produced for human trials could take 6 to 9 months. Is the US tracking any potential treatments and is there anything the US is doing that could potentially speed up this timeline.

00:22:10 Dr. Pillai

So, I think the large medical countermeasures are an important part of any viral hemorrhagic fever outbreak, but it is just it is one part in addition to contact tracing identification, ensuring people know what to look for, and limit their risk.

In the Bondibugyo virus outbreak there are no FDA approved medical countermeasures so a priority for the United States government, as well as our ministry colleagues, is ensuring that we are rapidly evaluating the landscape of products that are available, determining what products may be the most appropriate, and determining the best way that we can ensure the safe and effective delivery of therapeutics in the appropriate way to assess their efficacy. And that is something that we at CDC are working across with our interagency partners particularly at BARDA and ASPR who are our points for medical countermeasure development and advancement. So the short answer is the US government is actively engaged in this front and want to support our ministry colleagues as best as possible.

00:23:34 Mr. Haynes

Thank you doctor Klein thank you all for joining us today transcript and audio file will be posted to the CDC media site later today this will conclude our briefing.

00:23:46 Operator

This concludes today's call, thank you for your participation, you may disconnect at this time.