Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield has warned that the current Ebola outbreak could escalate into “a very significant pandemic.”
The virologist, who led the agency during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, told NewsNation presenter Elizabeth Vargas on Wednesday that he believes the outbreak could become “very disruptive,” adding that it appears to be “moving very rapidly.”
Despite the concerns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the risk to Americans remains low, although authorities are continuing to take precautionary measures.
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On Monday, the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security introduced tighter protocols, including enhanced travel screening, restricted entry procedures and additional public health measures aimed at preventing Ebola from spreading into the United States.
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NYPost reports: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda are battling the spread of the rare Ebola strain, Bundibugyo, with 575 suspected cases and 148 suspected deaths already reported, according to the CDC.
But Redfield, 74, suspects the outbreak is “gonna become a very significant pandemic, probably going to leak into Tanzania, leak into Southern Sudan, maybe leak into Rwanda.”
Redfield, who presided over three Ebola outbreaks, all of which were in the DRC during his stint as CDC chief, was surprised by how late the outbreak was identified.
“Normally we recognize them when we have five, ten cases, you know, at most,” he said. “This one really wasn’t picked up until there was over 100 cases. As you said, now there’s over 500 cases. There’s close to 150 deaths already, and it’s moving very rapidly.”
The London-based MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis has estimated the true number of cases could be more than 1,000.
“The true magnitude remains uncertain,” it said
The infection marks the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC since 1976 – with the most recent ending in December 2025, according to the CDC.
There is no absolute cure for Bundibugyo and World Health Organization special adviser Dr. Vasee Moorthy warned it could take six to nine months for a vaccine to become available.
But Redfield spoke about an “experimental vaccine that’s been in trials.”
Despite the virus spreading in pockets of Congo, schools and churches are open – with only some people wearing masks.
At one hospital in Ituri, Ebola patients were placed on the same ward with those suffering from other illnesses.
A Doctors Without Borders team identified suspected cases over the weekend at Bunia’s Salama hospital but found no available isolation ward in the area, said Trish Newport, an emergency program manager.
“Every health facility they called said, ‘We’re full of suspect cases. We don’t have any space.’ This gives you a vision of how crazy it is right now,” she said on social media.
