Former Trump CDC director predicts Ebola outbreak could become a 'very significant pandemic’

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield predicted Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak spreading across Africa could become a “very significant pandemic.”

The CDC reported that as of Thursday there are 51 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with 575 suspected cases and 148 suspected deaths.

Redfield, who served as the CDC director under President Donald Trump's first administration from 2018 to 2021, said he expects the virus to spread across at least three more African countries. It has not spread beyond Africa so far.

“I suspect this is going to become a very significant pandemic, probably going to leak into Tanzania, leak into southern Sudan, maybe leak into Rwanda,” Redfield told NewsNation.” “So, it’s going to be very disruptive."

Redfield said the current situation can be described as a "significant outbreak," and expressed concern over how long it took the DRC to recognize the outbreak.

“Normally when we have these Ebola outbreaks, and I had three of them when I was CDC director, all of which were in the DRC, normally we recognize them when we have five, 10 cases, you know, at most,” he said. “This one really wasn’t picked up until there was over 100 cases ... now there’s over 500 cases. There’s close to 150 deaths already, and it’s moving very rapidly.”

The United States has not seen an Ebola case so far, though one American tested positive for the virus while overseas and is being treated in Germany.

The State Department issued a travel advisory Thursday, instructing all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the U.S. to go through “enhanced public health screening” carried out by the CDC and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.