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Ebola science is moving fast; it might not be enough

The tension is worsening between scientific advances and the realities that make it difficult to translate them into lives saved

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    • Locals washing their hands at a checkpoint set up for preventive measures against the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    • Locals washing their hands at a checkpoint set up for preventive measures against the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. PHOTO: EPA

    Lisa Jarvis

    Published Sat, May 30, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    AMID a fast-moving Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scientific community has mobilised with breakneck speed to find ways to stamp out the virus.

    It is an effort grounded in years of knowledge gleaned from previous outbreaks – of Ebola, of course, but also Covid, mpox and other pathogens that have caught the world off guard.

    And it is proceeding remarkably quickly: Within little more than a week of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring an emergency, experts had homed in on the best potential treatments and vaccine candidates, and had a good sense of how to test them.

    Ebola virus

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