University of Alberta antiviral expert Matthias Götte warns more needs to be done to prepare for global outbreaks of deadly viruses like Ebola, hantavirus and others.
This week, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern as more than 600 cases and 139 deaths from Ebola were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meanwhile, passengers from a Dutch cruise ship, including four Canadians, continue to be isolated and monitored following an outbreak of a rare human-to-human transmitted strain of hantavirus first identified in early May and leading to three deaths.
Götte stresses that while the threat to Canadians from both outbreaks is minimal, they serve as a reminder that not all of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic have been learned.
"It is basically not acceptable that, in 2026, after all we went through with COVID and really starting in 2014 with the West African Ebola outbreak, we are still faced with situations like this," says Götte, a professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
Vaccines and antibodies that were developed to fight the last major Ebola outbreak, in West Africa in 2014, were for the Zaire strain and will likely not work against the new Bundibugyo strain, he explains.
