News brief
October 27, 2026
Topics
- The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has now grown to 10,060 cases. Compared with the West African outbreak of 2014-2016, the current outbreak has at least three times the number of cases and number of deaths since it was declared on May 15, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported they are sending more experts to Nigeria this week to investigate how a woman in that country contracted the virus. The ECDC has also sent support to Kenya, where two people have died from the virus. Yesterday, 20 case contacts in Kenya were released from quarantine after finishing a 21-day monitoring period. Ninety-eight contacts remain in quarantine. In total, nine people in Kenya have tested positive for the virus.
- New World screwworm detections are increasing in both New Mexico and Texas this month, with six detections in the past week alone, and 15 in total for the month of October. Cattle in Luna County, New Mexico, were the most recently infected by the parasitic fly, along with cattle and sheep in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. In Texas, Hudspeth County is reporting two cattle detections. The jump in activity comes as officials in New Mexico re-opened a border crossing for Mexican cattle yesterday, after it had been closed for nearly two years to prevent the spread of New World screwworm. The crossing is in Columbus, New Mexico, and uses new safety measures, including tests and inspections, before allowing animals to enter into the United States.
- Over the last week, reports of H5N1 avian flu in Washington State cattle herds have tripled, from nine to 27. All but one cattle herd is located in Yakima County, Washington, with a single report in Benton County. “Seeing the virus move to another county is disappointing but our dairy farmers are working hard to implement their biosecurity plans, share lessons learned and help each other get through this,” said Washington State Veterinarian Amber Itle, VMD, MS. “This isn’t new for the country, but it is new for Washington.” On October 8, Washington reported its first detection of H5N1 in cattle, and on October 15 the state announced a dairy worker in Yakima County was infected with the virus, the first human H5N1 case reported in the United States so far this year.
