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The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Saturday due to the rapid spread of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Ebola causes severe hemorrhagic fever and is often fatal. There’s no approved vaccine for the strain of Ebola responsible for the current outbreak, known as the Bundibugyo variant. The WHO said in a statement that the outbreak is potentially much larger “than what is currently being detected and reported.”

Public health professor and emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer, who is an Ebola survivor, says this Ebola outbreak could be the fourth largest in history. “This is going to be a really difficult outbreak to manage and respond to,” says Spencer. The ability of healthcare workers to address the outbreak in eastern Congo, “given the violence and conflict, is anything but ideal.”

Spencer adds that cuts to USAID and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization have increased the likelihood for viruses to spread nationally and internationally, citing outbreaks of measles in the U.S. and Ebola and hantavirus abroad. “This is not all just a coincidence,” says Spencer. “This is a consequence of us cutting back our support.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency Saturday due to the rapid spread of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The announcement came a day after the African Union’s public health agency said it confirmed Ebola infections in the DRC’s northeastern province of Ituri, where 87 deaths and hundreds of cases of illness have been reported. Cases have also been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. At least four healthcare workers are among the dead.

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In a statement, the WHO said the outbreak is potentially much larger “than what is currently being detected and reported.” This is WHO Director of Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations Abdirahman Mahamud.

ABDIRAHMAN MAHAMUD: Well, we know very well that the country has experience, but the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. So, our response is to stand with the regional government, with the regional government and the country neighbor, in terms of solidarity, to show again that they can control this outbreak.

ABDIRAHMAN MAHAMUD: Well, we know very well that the country has experience, but the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. So, our response is to stand with the regional government, with the regional government and the country neighbor, in terms of solidarity, to show again that they can control this outbreak.

AMY GOODMAN: Ebola causes severe hemorrhagic fever and is often fatal. There’s no approved vaccine for the species of Ebola responsible for the current outbreak.

This all comes as the World Health Organization is coordinating the international response to the outbreak of the Andes strain of the hantavirus, which began on a Dutch cruise ship. The MV Hondius has docked in Rotterdam, where the ship’s crew will self-isolate. There are three confirmed deaths and at least 11 confirmed cases, where dozens more are being monitored. As of Sunday morning, there were no known cases of hantavirus in the United States.

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