A deadly ebola relative is surging after years in the shadows

A growing outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is drawing attention to a broader problem in global health: how to prepare for dangerous diseases that appear only rarely but can still cause deadly outbreaks.

In a review article published in the New England Journal of Medicine , Boston University professor Nancy Sullivan argues that outbreak preparedness needs to extend beyond the infectious diseases that receive the most attention.

Bundibugyo belongs to the filovirus family, the same group of viruses that includes the much better-known Ebola virus. Despite its potential severity, Bundibugyo has been linked to only two previously recognized outbreaks, one in Uganda in 2007 and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012.