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Lessons from the Bundibugyo outbreak for the Americas

In a comment in the latest edition of The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, Sabin’s Vice President for Vaccine Epidemiology Denise Garrett and President of Global Immunization Rebecca Martin note that while the Bundibugyo outbreak is far from the Americas, the realities on the ground hit close to home for a region that also grapples with evolving disease risks.

Denise Garrett  and  Rebecca Martin

The Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with crossborder spread into Uganda, may seem geographically distant from the Americas.

Yet, there is an important lesson for the region: outbreaks are contained not only by disease-specific tools, but by preparedness systems built long before a crisis becomes visible. For countries in the Americas facing recurrent and emerging threats, including dengue, yellow fever, Zika, Oropouche, and other zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, the outbreak underscores the need for sustained investment in integrated, risk-informed preparedness at community, subnational, national, and regional levels.

The declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for BVD by WHO has focused global attention on the urgent need to respond. The current outbreak has also exposed important preparedness gaps: no vaccine is currently licensed for the prevention of BVD,6 point-of-care diagnostic capacity remains limited because the GeneXpert platform cannot detect Bundibugyo virus and confirmation requires access to broader laboratory testing capacity, approved therapeutic options remain limited, and response efforts have been complicated by conflict, insecurity, population displacement, fragile health systems, and longstanding mistrust. Beyond these immediate challenges, however, the broader lesson is that preparedness systems must be built before an outbreak begins.

Read the full journal article