Bundibugyo Ebola has reached Kenya, with eight cases tied to one traveller, and Nigeria, where confirmation came nine days after the patient sought care. Growth in DR Congo's confirmed cases has eased as an eighth province reports infections. WHO cannot rule out a laboratory exposure in a Russian Plague institute worker's death.
Ebola's exports were diagnosed late: Kenya's patient after about a month ill, Nigeria's nine days after seeking care in Abuja.
A Kenyan living in DR Congo flew into Nairobi on 3 October carrying Bundibugyo ebolavirus. By 19 October Kenya had eight confirmed cases, every one of them exposed to him.
QatarSwitzerlandKenya has eight confirmed cases of Bundibugyo Ebola, all linked to one man who flew into Nairobi on 3 October and died on 5 October. Three of the cases are health workers who treated him at Nairobi Hospital.
Tracers had found 128 of 130 listed contacts by 17 October. Five contacts had left Kenya by 13 October, so other governments now share the watch.
A woman who travelled from Uganda sought care in Abuja on 11 October. Laboratory confirmation of Bundibugyo ebolavirus came nine days later, two weeks after Nigeria's health agency had put the capital on alert.
Nigeria confirmed its first Bundibugyo Ebola case on 20 October. The patient, a woman who had travelled from Uganda, fell ill on 7 October and went to a private clinic in Abuja on 11 October.
She is now in isolation, and 44 of her contacts are under watch. African health ministers meet online on 28 October to plan a joint response.
DR Congo's national laboratory confirmed two Bundibugyo infections in Nord-Ubangi on 18 October, the outbreak's eighth province. National growth has eased to the high 60s a day, but almost one contact in four goes unchecked.
Ebola has reached Nord-Ubangi, the eighth province of DR Congo to record cases, after two infections were confirmed on 18 October. One of the two patients died.
DR Congo had 9,552 confirmed cases to 18 October, by the European disease agency's count. A vaccine trial built for this Ebola species plans to enrol 3,620 contacts.
A technician at Siberia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died of pneumonia on 2 October. Russia says investigators found no biosafety incident; WHO says it cannot yet exclude a laboratory exposure.
LatviaA technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia died of pneumonia on 2 October. Its operator, Rospotrebnadzor, says tests found no Plague and two inquiries found no safety breach.
WHO says the cause is still unknown and it cannot fully exclude exposure at work. Its view rests on what Russia chose to share in reply to four requests.
Côte d'Ivoire reported 23 yellow fever cases and 11 deaths in Bounkani on 14 October, five days after Ghana declared an outbreak in its Upper West Region. Neither government's statement mentions the other's.
Ghana declared a Yellow fever outbreak in its Upper West Region on 9 October. Its three confirmed patients all died, Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said.
Five days later Côte d'Ivoire reported 23 cases and 11 deaths in Bounkani, its north-eastern region. Ghana plans emergency vaccination in three districts this month, and Côte d'Ivoire says it holds more than 400,000 doses.
The UN General Assembly adopted its pandemic declaration on 12 October, but the pathogen-sharing annex still keeps WHO's Pandemic Agreement from opening for signature. Four days later WHO signed a biological-events deal with Interpol.
The UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration on pandemics on 12 October. WHO's Pandemic Agreement still cannot open for signature until states settle its annex on sharing virus samples.
WHO expects that annex at the World Health Assembly by May 2027, or sooner at a special session. On 16 October WHO also signed a deal with Interpol on unusual biological events.
EU and EEA countries reported 342 clade I mpox cases in September, and ECDC says cases have risen since June. The June plateau did not hold.
Countries in the EU and wider European Economic Area reported 342 cases of clade I mpox in September, the more severe branch of the virus. Cases have risen since June, the European disease agency says.
Across the year to September it counted 1,939 clade I cases in 23 countries, most among men who have sex with men. Gaps in clade data limit how far the trend can be read.
An unvaccinated teenager in the Amazon region of Loreto died of measles on 13 September, PAHO reported. On 20 October PAHO warned that El Niño will sharpen a dengue season already running at double last year's pace.
A teenage boy in Peru's Amazon region of Loreto died of measles on 13 September, the country's first measles death this year. He had not been vaccinated.
Peru also has 63,407 Dengue cases to late September, double the same point of 2025. The Pan American Health Organization warns that El Niño will strengthen as the Dengue season starts.
PAHO issued a regional alert on 16 October after New World screwworm infested 1,355 people in six countries this year, 62% more than in all of 2025. Mexico has all five deaths.
The Pan American Health Organization issued a regional alert on 16 October about New World screwworm, a fly whose larvae feed on living flesh. Six countries logged 1,355 human cases and five deaths from January to September.
That is already 62% more than in all of 2025. Mexico has 592 of the cases and every death so far.
Belgium recorded its first locally acquired West Nile infections in Europe's widest season yet, and Germany reported its first home-grown Sindbis virus case.
Belgium recorded its first human West Nile virus infections this year, in Europe's most widespread season so far. By 14 October 19 countries had 1,926 locally caught cases.
Germany also logged its first locally caught, symptomatic case of Sindbis virus, in a patient who fell ill on 12 July. Both viruses pass from birds to people through mosquito bites.
Saudi Arabia reported eight MERS cases and one death this year to 5 October, WHO said. Only two patients reported touching camels, the usual source, and WHO found no links between any of them.
Saudi Arabia reported eight MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) cases and one death between 1 January and 5 October, WHO said on 15 October. Most human infections in Saudi Arabia come from camels.
Only two of this year's patients had touched camels, and WHO found no links between any of the cases. No health workers caught the virus.
More than 650 people have fallen ill and two have died in three Salmonella clusters the UK Health Security Agency links to imported eggs. Separately, regulators recalled eggs from a Kyiv supplier.
UK health officials link more than 650 Salmonella illnesses and two deaths to imported eggs, Food Safety News reported on 12 October. The UK Health Security Agency is investigating two large importers but has not named them.
Separately, regulators recalled all eggs stamped 3UA1012066 from Yasensvit, a producer in Kyiv. Sequencing tied them to a separate strain behind 36 English cases in 2026.
Extensively drug-resistant Shigella rose from 1 of 58 tested Dutch samples in 2018 to 24 of 109 in 2023, a Eurosurveillance analysis found, and the study ties those strains to transmission inside the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, 24 of 109 Shigella samples tested in 2023 were extensively drug-resistant, up from one of 58 in 2018. A national analysis published on 15 October reported the rise.
The resistant strains spread mainly within the country rather than through travel. Cases linked to sex between men in the Netherlands were more likely to carry them.
Defra confirmed H5N1 bird flu on a commercial poultry farm near Belford, Northumberland, on 19 October and set control zones around it.
Defra, the UK farming ministry, confirmed H5N1 bird flu on a commercial poultry farm near Belford, Northumberland, on 19 October. Control zones now surround the farm.
Autumn outbreaks usually follow wild birds migrating into Britain. Human H5N1 infections remain rare, with 11 worldwide in 2026 to 1 October by Hong Kong's count.
Bangladesh had recorded 1,189 measles-related deaths by 17 October, 159 more than in mid-September, health ministry figures relayed by bdnews24 show.
Bangladesh had counted 1,189 deaths linked to measles by 17 October, health ministry figures relayed by bdnews24 show. That is 159 more than in mid-September.
In all of 2025 the country logged 132 measles cases and no deaths. A campaign since April has vaccinated 19.75 million children, yet the death toll is still rising.
Up for Ebola's spread beyond DR Congo. Kenya's chain has grown to eight cases since 5 October and Nigeria's case sought care at a private facility in Abuja four days after falling ill, so the next signal is whether either country records a case outside its listed contacts. The decision point is Africa CDC's online meeting of African health ministers on 28 October, ahead of a heads-of-state summit under African Union chair Évariste Ndayishimiye. Inside DR Congo, the spread to Nord-Ubangi on 18 October adds a province where contact follow-up has to start afresh, while the national rate already sits at 76.9%.
