On May 16, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern. In an unprecedented move, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the determination before convening an emergency committee.

The virus strain is Bundibugyo ebolavirus, a species for which no vaccine or treatment exists. As of May 17, the WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported at least 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths.

The virus has crossed into Uganda with two unlinked laboratory-confirmed cases in Kampala, including one death.

Five Ebola veterans and I are clinicians and researchers who have responded to multiple viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. This outbreak has every structural condition that turned West Africa's 2014 epidemic into a catastrophe that killed 11,000 people, plus several more that West Africa did not have.

Here are some of the risk factors we see: Kampala is a major international travel hub. Migrant gold miners travel in and out of Mongwalu, one of the epicenters. Refugee camps are located along the border with South Sudan.

Armed militants control parts of the outbreak zone. The outbreak festered for months before anyone confirmed what it was. A local health system has already collapsed: clinics without drugs, personal protective equipment stockpiles gone, trained staff laid off.

There is no vaccine. No treatment. Behind it all is a global health funding architecture at its lowest level since 2009, with the largest single donor having walked away.

We're less........

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