A deadly ebola relative is surging after years in the shadows

A growing Bundibugyo virus outbreak is showing how a little-known relative of Ebola can become a major threat when diagnosis and treatment options are limited. Experts warn that preparing only for familiar pathogens could leave the world vulnerable when rare but deadly viruses suddenly reemerge. A growing outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is drawing attention to a broader problem in global health: how to prepare for dangerous diseases that appear only rarely but can still cause deadly outbreaks. In a review article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Boston University professor Nancy Sullivan argues that outbreak preparedness needs to extend beyond the infectious diseases that receive the most attention.

Bundibugyo belongs to the filovirus family, the same group of viruses that includes the much better-known Ebola virus. Despite its potential severity, Bundibugyo has been linked to only two previously recognized outbreaks, one in Uganda in 2007 and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012. The current outbreak, however, has already surpassed those earlier events in both its trajectory and scale. According to the WHO, 695 confirmed cases and 138 confirmed deaths had been reported in the DRC and Uganda as of June 11. Sullivan, a professor of biology and virology, immunology & microbiology