Months ago, doctors in Ituri Province in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo started seeing patients with the vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding that are the hallmarks of Ebola. The tests kept coming back negative.
It was weeks before samples from sick people — many of whom had already died — made it to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa. There, researchers used a different test that screened for more species of Ebola and related viruses.
They finally identified the culprit: a species of Ebola significantly different from the one the original test could detect. But by then, the outbreak had seeded across the border into Uganda and become a full-blown public health emergency.
As health workers battle a devastating virus that has killed at least 49 people and infected 452 more so far, they have been hampered by a chronic lack of investment in high-quality tests for clinicians facing pathogens that surface in the most marginalized places.
NYT: Only the Right Tests Can Stop This Ebola Outbreak. Congo Has Hardly Any.
— Greg Folkers 🇺🇦☮️🇺🇸 (@greg_folkers) June 2, 2026
By Stephanie Nolen @nytimes https://t.co/NcMGgl4hnX gift link pic.twitter.com/jjafVf7W51
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