--- title: "White House Warns of “Catastrophic Consequences” of New Ebola Outbreaks" description: "In a Tuesday statement, the White House warned that new Ebola outbreaks in Africa need our attention now — otherwise we'd risk \"catastrophic consequences.\"" date: "2021-02-17" modified: "2021-02-17" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/white-house-catastrophic-consequences-ebola-outbreaks" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "africa" - "Ebola" - "health" - "WHO" --- # White House Warns of “Catastrophic Consequences” of New Ebola Outbreaks ![In a Tuesday statement, the White House warned that new Ebola outbreaks in Africa need our attention now — otherwise we'd risk "catastrophic consequences."]() *\Image: NIAID\* Health experts around the world are increasingly worried about two growing [Ebola]() outbreaks in the [Democratic Republic of the Congo]() and [Guinea](). In a [Tuesday statement](), the White House warned that the outbreaks need our attention now — and that otherwise we'll risk "catastrophic consequences," [*CNBC* reports](). "While the world is reeling from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola has again emerged, simultaneously, in both Central and West Africa," reads the statement by the Biden administration's press secretary Jen Psaki. "We must do everything in our power to respond quickly, effectively, and with commensurate resources to stop these outbreaks before they become largescale epidemics." "Outbreaks require swift and overwhelming response in order to avoid catastrophic consequences," the statement continues. The news comes after the World Health Organization [called attention]() to the two potential Ebola resurgences last week. More than 70 people came into direct contact with a woman who lived in Butembo, a city in the Republic of the Congo not far from the Congo-Uganda border. The woman later succumbed to the disease. Butembo was also the epicenter of the second largest Ebola outbreak in the world, declared over last June, according to *CNBC*. "So far, no other cases have been identified," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus [said in a statement]() last week. "But it’s possible there will be further cases because the woman had contact with many people after she became symptomatic." The White House is now in touch with the ambassadors of Guinea, the DRC, Sierra Leone and Liberia, offering their assistance. Ebola is quite different in nature to the coronavirus. The former virus tends to only spread through direct contact with body fluids or blood. It has an average case fatality rate of 50 percent. That means it's vastly more dangerous than the coronavirus, which has around a two percent case fatality rate, but COVID can spread much more easily through the air. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()