May 18, 2026
Americans Exposed to Ebola, As Outbreak Declared A “Public Health Emergency"
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RSS Feed 6 Americans, including a family working for a non-profit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus. At least three of them faced high risk exposure and one American is currently symptomatic. U.S. officials are now working to medically evacuate the group, but it’s unclear where they will be taken for monitoring and treatment. This, as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after the number of suspected cases continues to grow and the death count climbs to nearly 90.”
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. On this Monday, May eighteenth, Ebola has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. And now we're this morning that a number of Americans have been exposed to ebola. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:21
Speaker 2: Robes.
00:00:21
Speaker 1: I say that, and you know what, just in saying it out loud, let's just start with that. The Americans we're talking about, we should say, first and foremost, they ain't here in the US, not yet at least.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: We don't know where they're being taken.
00:00:32
Speaker 3: But we do know that now the CDC and other American health officials are trying to determine where to put these six Americans who were yes exposed to ebola, this deadly strain in Congo. We know that three of them faced what health avisians are calling high risk contact or exposure, and one of them is symptomatic.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: And let's talk about who we are. We don't know everything here. We get it from a I guess, the World Health Organization CDC are the two groups we're getting most information from, but there is some reporting from the likes of CBS and others. So we want to get you in Washington Post as well. So as much as we've been able to collect at this point about the Americans, what do we know.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: Yes, here's what we know. At least a part of this group of six was a family. So they say, this is the Washington Post reporting this, that some of the Americans who were exposed include a family with children. They were working apparently for a nonprofit unfortunately right there in the middle of this outbreak area. And so the CDC has said, yes, we are working with supporting partners is the term that it was used, who they say are coordinating the safe withdrawal of these Americans who have been directly affected by the outbreak. And the big question is where are they going to be taken too.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: And that we don't know. We don't know where they are, and we don't know where they're being taken, and we certainly haven't got word yet there are coins to be brought back here. But it is important Roades as I say that Americans had been exposed, given what we've seen recently with haunt of virus, I guess it's important to note where these folks are because some of the Haunt of virus folks were brought back to the US. So at this point, they keep telling us the risks certainly to the US and really the rest of the world is low. However, they keep using very scary words like health emergency and international concern robes and there is concern because now we are sitting in the midst of one of the biggest ebola outbreaks in history.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Yes, and you know what another scary phrase is that I saw repeated in a lot of the reporting that was coming from the CDC, from the World Health Organization, They keep using the phrase at this time. I know that might seem monocuous, but that jumped out to me because that's the whole point of viruses, and specifically this one. The problem with what's going on right there is we weren't, or at least the World Health Organization wasn't made aware that this outbreak was occurring until it already was in a later stage of an outbreak. So the first word, the first indication we got that there was an abola outbreak, A knew this is the eighteenth outbreak I believe that's been documented in the region.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: There already had been eighty folks.
00:03:13
Speaker 3: Who had been killed and two hundred plus suspected infected, and that was when we first were alerted. Now those numbers are starting to increase, and they really don't have a firm grasp on exactly what those numbers are given the region.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Okay, a couple of problems here, and we'll start with that Robes. Given the region, this is a war torn region, This is a vast region. This is a region where they always talk about population movement, so folks are crossing borders. You can't keep up. Quite frankly, there aren't good records. That's certainly one problem. The other problem, as you mentioned rose things they found out about it late. So if you find out about it late, you're behind it. It's days, you're days behind a virus or maybe even weeks trying to track down folks who have moved here there. And the other the problem here is also the particular type of a Bola virus we're dealing with. We should give the numbers here that we're looking at about three hundred and fifty cases and eighty nine dead at this point, three hundred and fifty cases and eighty nine people dead. But Robes, this particular strain is problematic because it's the one strain Robes that hasn't caused most of the outbreaks, and it's the one don't have treatment for almost at all.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: That's correct, no treatment.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'll say this right or pronounced this right, because I haven't heard anyone else attempted. But the Bundy Bogio bugio Bundy bugio virus, it's the strain where, yes, as you just pointed out, there are no approved therapeutics, there is no vaccine. There are some available for other strains, but this particular virus is exceptionally challenging to contain because of those things. So this is the strain you don't want to be spreading like wildfire, and unfortunately that is happening.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: I thought this was also interesting.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: According to the World Health Organization or excuse me, this actually came from the CDC, most of the cases that they've seen so far in Congo are affecting people between the ages of twenty and thirty nine, and they say two thirds of the folks who've been infected are women. So unclear why or how that's being figured out, but they do say, and this is just interesting. With this virus and abola, we talk a lot about We've talked with a hantavirus being spread through the air with close contact.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: This is actually spread through bodily fluids.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: And that may seem like, oh, that would be harder to spread, but no, anytime, if you've wiped your eyes saliva and if you're coughing and you touch a surface, that virus can live on those surfaces. And that's the deep concern here because that means it's highly contagious and spreadable.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: So yeah, they give.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: You to go back to the virus we're talking about here, and there's no There are vaccines for the strain they're most familiar with. They're in Congo, the zayre strain of this that was first deserved back in nineteen seventy six. Now this other uh and we we say it bundabougio, b u n d i b u g yo. Think again, but b you and I had to see it again. Bu n d i b u g yo is the name of It's not something you commonly see. We're trying to give you an idea of what we're talking about. Bundabougio is the name of it. This is the one robes they All they can do is make you comfortable. All they can do is give supportive care. Is that the word they use, the phrase supportive care. They don't know to go to the store and grab some tamil flu They can't just grab something off a shelf. I'll give you a prescription. There is nothing they know of that can fight this thing other than to make you as comfortable as possible and be as supportive as possible. That's just fluids, that's ivs, that's pain medication. That's it. And we sit and we wait to see if you're going to fall anywhere between that what twenty five to ninety percent that this virus ends up killing. That is you combine all those things. Robes to where we hear about ebola, it's so far away, and then when we hear about them, they usually deal with them in pretty quick order. This one's alarming.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: This one's extremely alarming, Yes, given the strain, given how late we have found out about this. Now we're hearing about Americans being impacted. And look, people have been traveling through these borders. There is no way that they have been able to contact trace the amount of people who've been exposed to this virus. It's concerning. And these are certainly the early days of this virus, and to have already had so many dies so quickly, or at least by the time we find out, is of great concern because, look, this is an area that unfortunately knows about ebola viruses.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: We mentioned this is the eighteenth.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: Outbreak, but we actually did an episode on this over the weekend talking about the worst outbreak not that long ago, ten years ago, killed more than eleven thousand people. So obviously there is a rush now to make sure that this outbreak doesn't reach those types of levels. And we're in a different world even ten years later, you know, and being this behind, just how far and quickly people travel coming on the heels of the hauntavirus. My goodness, this is the last thing that people want to wake up to hear that this thing is getting worse and it's getting scarier, and we're now just sending folks to the area to try and contain it.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: The upside is it's a morbid upside. But the incubation period it isn't as long. This is a two to twenty one day situation, they say to where yes, as awful and unfortunate it is for anyone who contracts the damn thing, it's still you can keep hopefully robes keep track a little better if no one gets sick within the next two or three weeks. Possibly, Look, if somebody had gotten on a plane and flown to whatever, to London, to South Africa, you know they're going to end up in a hospital and get sit pretty seriously and we're going to hear about it. If we're not hearing about that yet, that's supposed the word should give us some sense of comfort, robes, and everybody's being monitored before they leave now and getting on a plane. But I don't know, like we say people cross border so that they drive over to an airport over here, can you keep up with all these folks? But one upside, what was it forty two to forty five days for hantavirus? That seemed impossible to try to track all those folks. This one, at least, it seems like they do get sick pretty quickly.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: Ah.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: Yes, so that is certainly the good news.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: I think they said the average incubation was eight to ten days, So within a week or so, you would almost certainly or most likely know whether or not you have been infected or at least have symptoms that present as ebola.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to tell you what.
00:09:29
Speaker 3: The United States is doing now about this growing global pandemic concern. Welcome back, everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are talking about the honestly pretty scary, frightening headlines most of us have woken up to today about this growing ebola concern. Yes, it's happening over in Congo, Uganda, but we're now learning that six Americans have been exposed to eubola. One of them is presenting symptoms, and we don't know where these folks are now, but we do understand that the United States is coordinating with entities over there to try and get some of these folks, at least the one who is presenting symptoms medically evacuated and certainly isolated from the rest of the community. But this is concerning as we're starting to hear growing numbers eighty nine deaths so far, three hundred and fifty suspected cases, and the CDC here is now mobilizing. They say a unit they are going to send personnel directly over to the infected areas to try and help contain this disease along with so many other folks and health experts around the world, but we have and this is not shocking. The CDC is issuing a travel advisory for Americans. They are urging folks to not travel to Congo Uganda, and I always found this kind of silly, but they are warning folks if you see anyone who's presenting symptoms coughing, sneezing, headaches, flu like symptoms, you should keep your distance from them. I feel like that's the case now. We've learned the hard way through these pandemics. We've suffered, certainly in this country.
00:11:16
Speaker 2: But with the fear of.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Haunta virus and now ebola, anytime someone coughs, I.
00:11:23
Speaker 2: Have to admit I get a little concerned.
00:11:26
Speaker 1: Look, we are we learned a long time ago, and we just saw somebody yesterday with a mask on and I immediately got alarmed, like, what the hell are they protecting themselves? Are they trying to protect me from something?
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Like?
00:11:36
Speaker 1: What's going on with that? It's in our minds now, and it's how it works. And yes, ebola doesn't seem so foreign anymore. It just does not given what we just saw with hant of virus. Why is haunt of virus making headlines in the US so frequently and frequently for us is Gene Hackman's wife that died, and now this has come up. It's just a whole new world.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: And it's the.
00:11:59
Speaker 1: Beauty of the world that we can all move around, right, we can all get to this place and that place, and yeah, and those places can bring shit here. Andy ain't ever been here before, so ebola doesn't seem like such a far away and foreign threat. We wake up every day to some new headline about ebola. The numbers go up. It's spreading or whatever it may be. And then this morning, what's the headlines Americans? Hmm, Like every day there's something here for America. Wait, wait a Minute'm gonna listen a little more. Let me listen a little more. Let me listen a little more. And that part of it, at least is disturbing. And look, they keep telling us the risk is low, but they keep raising the emergency alert levels. Yes, okay, I know they put certain things in place and actions, but man, it's disturbing.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: To hear it.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: Certainly is the risk is low at this time. Again, that's my phrase that jumped out at me. And look, they also said this does not yet meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency. Unclear when that actually I guess if it spreads out beyond a certain border at that point, then they would have to create a different alert level and have different systems in place for the world to really wake up and pay attention to this. But look, we've mentioned this before, just that this is an area of conflict and just with the the high population they I didn't realize. I'm not familiar with this area of Congo. I've never traveled to that area of the world. But they say that this is an urban slash semi urban area of Africa.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: I was not aware of that.
00:13:26
Speaker 3: But they say it's densely populated and as you mentioned, a lot of movement back and forth there. They talk about mining, there's a lot of trade where there's a back and forth where folks come and go. But they also just said there's they call it a large network of informal health care facilities, so they don't have necessarily the hospital facilities like you would see in a lot of major urban areas. So this is just probably one of the worst places in the world for this to happen, and to have just escalated so quickly. Is also of deep concern so well, of course, cantinue to keep our eye on this developing story here Americans now though six of them exposed to abola. We will keep you updated, but we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:14:09
Speaker 2: Everyone. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. On this Monday, May eighteenth, Ebola has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. And now we're this morning that a number of Americans have been exposed to ebola. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:21
Speaker 2: Robes.
00:00:21
Speaker 1: I say that, and you know what, just in saying it out loud, let's just start with that. The Americans we're talking about, we should say, first and foremost, they ain't here in the US, not yet at least.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: We don't know where they're being taken.
00:00:32
Speaker 3: But we do know that now the CDC and other American health officials are trying to determine where to put these six Americans who were yes exposed to ebola, this deadly strain in Congo. We know that three of them faced what health avisians are calling high risk contact or exposure, and one of them is symptomatic.
00:00:56
Speaker 1: And let's talk about who we are. We don't know everything here. We get it from a I guess, the World Health Organization CDC are the two groups we're getting most information from, but there is some reporting from the likes of CBS and others. So we want to get you in Washington Post as well. So as much as we've been able to collect at this point about the Americans, what do we know.
00:01:16
Speaker 3: Yes, here's what we know. At least a part of this group of six was a family. So they say, this is the Washington Post reporting this, that some of the Americans who were exposed include a family with children. They were working apparently for a nonprofit unfortunately right there in the middle of this outbreak area. And so the CDC has said, yes, we are working with supporting partners is the term that it was used, who they say are coordinating the safe withdrawal of these Americans who have been directly affected by the outbreak. And the big question is where are they going to be taken too.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: And that we don't know. We don't know where they are, and we don't know where they're being taken, and we certainly haven't got word yet there are coins to be brought back here. But it is important Roades as I say that Americans had been exposed, given what we've seen recently with haunt of virus, I guess it's important to note where these folks are because some of the Haunt of virus folks were brought back to the US. So at this point, they keep telling us the risks certainly to the US and really the rest of the world is low. However, they keep using very scary words like health emergency and international concern robes and there is concern because now we are sitting in the midst of one of the biggest ebola outbreaks in history.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: Yes, and you know what another scary phrase is that I saw repeated in a lot of the reporting that was coming from the CDC, from the World Health Organization, They keep using the phrase at this time. I know that might seem monocuous, but that jumped out to me because that's the whole point of viruses, and specifically this one. The problem with what's going on right there is we weren't, or at least the World Health Organization wasn't made aware that this outbreak was occurring until it already was in a later stage of an outbreak. So the first word, the first indication we got that there was an abola outbreak, A knew this is the eighteenth outbreak I believe that's been documented in the region.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: There already had been eighty folks.
00:03:13
Speaker 3: Who had been killed and two hundred plus suspected infected, and that was when we first were alerted. Now those numbers are starting to increase, and they really don't have a firm grasp on exactly what those numbers are given the region.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Okay, a couple of problems here, and we'll start with that Robes. Given the region, this is a war torn region, This is a vast region. This is a region where they always talk about population movement, so folks are crossing borders. You can't keep up. Quite frankly, there aren't good records. That's certainly one problem. The other problem, as you mentioned rose things they found out about it late. So if you find out about it late, you're behind it. It's days, you're days behind a virus or maybe even weeks trying to track down folks who have moved here there. And the other the problem here is also the particular type of a Bola virus we're dealing with. We should give the numbers here that we're looking at about three hundred and fifty cases and eighty nine dead at this point, three hundred and fifty cases and eighty nine people dead. But Robes, this particular strain is problematic because it's the one strain Robes that hasn't caused most of the outbreaks, and it's the one don't have treatment for almost at all.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: That's correct, no treatment.
00:04:26
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'll say this right or pronounced this right, because I haven't heard anyone else attempted. But the Bundy Bogio bugio Bundy bugio virus, it's the strain where, yes, as you just pointed out, there are no approved therapeutics, there is no vaccine. There are some available for other strains, but this particular virus is exceptionally challenging to contain because of those things. So this is the strain you don't want to be spreading like wildfire, and unfortunately that is happening.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: I thought this was also interesting.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: According to the World Health Organization or excuse me, this actually came from the CDC, most of the cases that they've seen so far in Congo are affecting people between the ages of twenty and thirty nine, and they say two thirds of the folks who've been infected are women. So unclear why or how that's being figured out, but they do say, and this is just interesting. With this virus and abola, we talk a lot about We've talked with a hantavirus being spread through the air with close contact.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: This is actually spread through bodily fluids.
00:05:29
Speaker 3: And that may seem like, oh, that would be harder to spread, but no, anytime, if you've wiped your eyes saliva and if you're coughing and you touch a surface, that virus can live on those surfaces. And that's the deep concern here because that means it's highly contagious and spreadable.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: So yeah, they give.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: You to go back to the virus we're talking about here, and there's no There are vaccines for the strain they're most familiar with. They're in Congo, the zayre strain of this that was first deserved back in nineteen seventy six. Now this other uh and we we say it bundabougio, b u n d i b u g yo. Think again, but b you and I had to see it again. Bu n d i b u g yo is the name of It's not something you commonly see. We're trying to give you an idea of what we're talking about. Bundabougio is the name of it. This is the one robes they All they can do is make you comfortable. All they can do is give supportive care. Is that the word they use, the phrase supportive care. They don't know to go to the store and grab some tamil flu They can't just grab something off a shelf. I'll give you a prescription. There is nothing they know of that can fight this thing other than to make you as comfortable as possible and be as supportive as possible. That's just fluids, that's ivs, that's pain medication. That's it. And we sit and we wait to see if you're going to fall anywhere between that what twenty five to ninety percent that this virus ends up killing. That is you combine all those things. Robes to where we hear about ebola, it's so far away, and then when we hear about them, they usually deal with them in pretty quick order. This one's alarming.
00:07:05
Speaker 3: This one's extremely alarming, Yes, given the strain, given how late we have found out about this. Now we're hearing about Americans being impacted. And look, people have been traveling through these borders. There is no way that they have been able to contact trace the amount of people who've been exposed to this virus. It's concerning. And these are certainly the early days of this virus, and to have already had so many dies so quickly, or at least by the time we find out, is of great concern because, look, this is an area that unfortunately knows about ebola viruses.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: We mentioned this is the eighteenth.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: Outbreak, but we actually did an episode on this over the weekend talking about the worst outbreak not that long ago, ten years ago, killed more than eleven thousand people. So obviously there is a rush now to make sure that this outbreak doesn't reach those types of levels. And we're in a different world even ten years later, you know, and being this behind, just how far and quickly people travel coming on the heels of the hauntavirus. My goodness, this is the last thing that people want to wake up to hear that this thing is getting worse and it's getting scarier, and we're now just sending folks to the area to try and contain it.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: The upside is it's a morbid upside. But the incubation period it isn't as long. This is a two to twenty one day situation, they say to where yes, as awful and unfortunate it is for anyone who contracts the damn thing, it's still you can keep hopefully robes keep track a little better if no one gets sick within the next two or three weeks. Possibly, Look, if somebody had gotten on a plane and flown to whatever, to London, to South Africa, you know they're going to end up in a hospital and get sit pretty seriously and we're going to hear about it. If we're not hearing about that yet, that's supposed the word should give us some sense of comfort, robes, and everybody's being monitored before they leave now and getting on a plane. But I don't know, like we say people cross border so that they drive over to an airport over here, can you keep up with all these folks? But one upside, what was it forty two to forty five days for hantavirus? That seemed impossible to try to track all those folks. This one, at least, it seems like they do get sick pretty quickly.
00:09:13
Speaker 3: Ah.
00:09:14
Speaker 2: Yes, so that is certainly the good news.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: I think they said the average incubation was eight to ten days, So within a week or so, you would almost certainly or most likely know whether or not you have been infected or at least have symptoms that present as ebola.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to tell you what.
00:09:29
Speaker 3: The United States is doing now about this growing global pandemic concern. Welcome back, everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are talking about the honestly pretty scary, frightening headlines most of us have woken up to today about this growing ebola concern. Yes, it's happening over in Congo, Uganda, but we're now learning that six Americans have been exposed to eubola. One of them is presenting symptoms, and we don't know where these folks are now, but we do understand that the United States is coordinating with entities over there to try and get some of these folks, at least the one who is presenting symptoms medically evacuated and certainly isolated from the rest of the community. But this is concerning as we're starting to hear growing numbers eighty nine deaths so far, three hundred and fifty suspected cases, and the CDC here is now mobilizing. They say a unit they are going to send personnel directly over to the infected areas to try and help contain this disease along with so many other folks and health experts around the world, but we have and this is not shocking. The CDC is issuing a travel advisory for Americans. They are urging folks to not travel to Congo Uganda, and I always found this kind of silly, but they are warning folks if you see anyone who's presenting symptoms coughing, sneezing, headaches, flu like symptoms, you should keep your distance from them. I feel like that's the case now. We've learned the hard way through these pandemics. We've suffered, certainly in this country.
00:11:16
Speaker 2: But with the fear of.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Haunta virus and now ebola, anytime someone coughs, I.
00:11:23
Speaker 2: Have to admit I get a little concerned.
00:11:26
Speaker 1: Look, we are we learned a long time ago, and we just saw somebody yesterday with a mask on and I immediately got alarmed, like, what the hell are they protecting themselves? Are they trying to protect me from something?
00:11:36
Speaker 3: Like?
00:11:36
Speaker 1: What's going on with that? It's in our minds now, and it's how it works. And yes, ebola doesn't seem so foreign anymore. It just does not given what we just saw with hant of virus. Why is haunt of virus making headlines in the US so frequently and frequently for us is Gene Hackman's wife that died, and now this has come up. It's just a whole new world.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: And it's the.
00:11:59
Speaker 1: Beauty of the world that we can all move around, right, we can all get to this place and that place, and yeah, and those places can bring shit here. Andy ain't ever been here before, so ebola doesn't seem like such a far away and foreign threat. We wake up every day to some new headline about ebola. The numbers go up. It's spreading or whatever it may be. And then this morning, what's the headlines Americans? Hmm, Like every day there's something here for America. Wait, wait a Minute'm gonna listen a little more. Let me listen a little more. Let me listen a little more. And that part of it, at least is disturbing. And look, they keep telling us the risk is low, but they keep raising the emergency alert levels. Yes, okay, I know they put certain things in place and actions, but man, it's disturbing.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: To hear it.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: Certainly is the risk is low at this time. Again, that's my phrase that jumped out at me. And look, they also said this does not yet meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency. Unclear when that actually I guess if it spreads out beyond a certain border at that point, then they would have to create a different alert level and have different systems in place for the world to really wake up and pay attention to this. But look, we've mentioned this before, just that this is an area of conflict and just with the the high population they I didn't realize. I'm not familiar with this area of Congo. I've never traveled to that area of the world. But they say that this is an urban slash semi urban area of Africa.
00:13:25
Speaker 2: I was not aware of that.
00:13:26
Speaker 3: But they say it's densely populated and as you mentioned, a lot of movement back and forth there. They talk about mining, there's a lot of trade where there's a back and forth where folks come and go. But they also just said there's they call it a large network of informal health care facilities, so they don't have necessarily the hospital facilities like you would see in a lot of major urban areas. So this is just probably one of the worst places in the world for this to happen, and to have just escalated so quickly. Is also of deep concern so well, of course, cantinue to keep our eye on this developing story here Americans now though six of them exposed to abola. We will keep you updated, but we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:14:09
Speaker 2: Everyone. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.