Following the rise in Ebola-related deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda and the declaration of the outbreak as a public health emergency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the risk posed by the virus across Africa has become high.
At the same time, the African Union’s health agency cautioned that ten additional African countries are now at risk of Ebola outbreaks alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, and Zambia.
As fears grow over the wider spread of the disease across the continent particularly in the absence of a proven vaccine or approved treatment for the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola researchers are warning of another factor that could further complicate the crisis: climate change.
Could the climate crisis become a hidden driver reshaping the geography of outbreaks and pushing Ebola into new regions across Africa, placing millions under a growing health threat?
What Is Ebola?
Ebola is a highly dangerous viral hemorrhagic fever first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. The virus was named after the nearby Ebola River, close to where the outbreak was first identified.
Over the decades, African countries have experienced multiple Ebola outbreaks. However, the 2014 West Africa epidemic remains the deadliest in the virus’s history, with more than 28,000 recorded infections and over 11,000 deaths, according to The Conversation.
Ebola is classified as a zoonotic disease, an illness transmitted from animals to humans through infectious agents such as viruses, similar to COVID-19. Bats are widely believed to be the primary natural reservoir of the Ebola virus.
Today, however, the danger is no longer linked solely to the virus itself, but also to the environmental and climatic conditions that facilitate its spread.
The Link Between Climate Change and Ebola Spread
Human outbreaks can occur through direct contact with infected animals or the consumption of contaminated bushmeat. Yet growing concern now centers on the possibility of Ebola expanding geographically within Africa.
Researchers fear that climate change and rising temperatures may increase the likelihood of future outbreaks, according to Environment Journal.
A recent study published last year in the scientific journal PLOS identified seasonal temperatures as a “major influencing factor” in the spread of Ebola, finding that rising annual temperatures significantly increase the probability of outbreaks.
This comes as Africa continues to warm faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization, with average temperatures rising by more than 0.6°C compared to the 1991–2000 baseline.
The study also found that declining vegetation cover may accelerate Ebola transmission risks. Human activities such as rapid urban expansion and increasing deforestation are intensifying contact between people and infected wildlife, making transmission easier.
Wildlife Is Also at Risk
Climate and environmental changes may threaten millions of people across Africa but the danger does not stop with humans.
According to Environment Journal, biodiversity is also under threat, particularly endangered species. Among the most vulnerable are mountain gorillas living in the forested slopes along the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo the same region where the latest Ebola outbreak is concentrated.
As temperatures continue to rise and human activity expands deeper into forests and wild habitats, Ebola is no longer simply the threat of a deadly virus. It has become part of a broader environmental imbalance that could drive larger and more complex outbreaks in the future.
Experts warn that the climate crisis may become a hidden partner in the expansion of infectious diseases, threatening both human populations and ecosystems alike. Addressing the crisis, therefore, requires far more than emergency health responses alone.
Protecting forests, reducing deforestation, strengthening surveillance and rapid-response systems, and intensifying global efforts to combat climate change may all become critical lines of defense in preventing future pandemics before they begin.
