90-Second Read: The Ebola and Hantavirus Outbreaks Offer an Ominous Warning

This latest Ebola outbreak is unfolding alongside a frightening Hantavirus outbreak that erupted on a cruise ship. To be sure, Ebola and Hantavirus are different viruses spreading under different circumstances, but both come from animals. Health workers in orange hazmat suits board the Dutch cruise ship, MV Hondius following a deadly Andes Hantavirus outbreak, in the Netherlands on May 20, 2026. Faced with such inequities, it's no wonder that thousands of people died between those two outbreaks.

However, Ebola and Hantaviruses are only two examples of many. The Hantavirus outbreak has stoked fears that recall COVID-19's early days. The day before the WHO learned of the Hantavirus outbreak, however, negotiators failed to agree on how to equitably share critical pathogen samples, vaccines, and medicines between richer and poorer countries during future outbreaks. In rural Guinea, starving communities cleared forests to make way for new farms.

Ebola, which is currently spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is a nightmare disease. There's a roughly 50-50 shot at survival, and the unlucky half will die in agony, bleeding profusely as their organs begin to fail. Ebola, for example, is a disease tied to deforestation. In 2020, the World Health Organization convened an expert panel charged with figuring out how to make COVID-19 the last pandemic.

The majority of emerging infectious diseases in humans, including most, if not all, pandemics since 1918, originated in animals. Finally, the commercial wildlife trade, catering to growing demand for exciting foods and exotic pets, has been known to export dangerous pathogens around the world and, often, into urban centers. Last year, the WHO adopted a pandemic treaty, the first of its kind with obligations on spillover prevention.