A World Health Organization (WHO) officials says 5,000 more workers are needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to control the ongoing Ebola outbreak as it spreads geographically and threatens to move into bigger cities outside of the affected provinces, including Kinshasa. 

In addition, the WHO said another 1,600 treatment beds are estimated to be needed to meet the demand of what remains the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in world history. 

Outbreak totals include 6,686 confirmed Ebola cases and 3,226 deaths as of yesterday. WHO officials told reporters today that 1,400 beds have already been established across 59 facilities, but the scale-up must continue to get people treated outside of the community where new transmission chains are being established. 

Health workers remain unpaid 

Today the Wall Street Journal reports that frustrated, unpaid healthcare workers in the DRC are allowing families to touch dead Ebola patients before they are buried, breaking the most basic tenet of outbreak control. Funerals are a major site of Ebola transmission, as handling a dead person’s body can spread the virus.

Workers have reported stalled wages and lack of protective gear since the start of this outbreak in May. 

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. No vaccines or treatments are approved for this strain, which has been the cause of only two other known outbreaks since it was discovered in 2007. 

Democratic lawmakers in Congress are speaking out about an agreement that would allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to tap into billions of dollars in funding designated for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The interagency agreement, which was discovered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), would give the DoD access to funds that Congress provided to NIH for biomedical research into treatments or cures for infectious diseases such as Ebola, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and influenza. According to reporting by Nature, the yet-to-be finalized agreement would move funding from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to military biodefense programs at the DoD and will last 10 years.

“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous,” DeLauro said in a statement. “The interagency agreement needs to be terminated immediately.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said the agreement, which was not proactively shared with Congress, could mean that a “substantial proportion” of NIAID’s budget is not spent on NIAID programs.

“We cannot allow this administration to shred patients’ hopes of new, lifesaving cures and treatments so that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth can secretively fund their own priorities in defiance of Congress,” Murray said in a news release. 

Bhattacharya defends deal

DeLauro, who serves as ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested the agreement is an effort to divert congressionally appropriated funding to DoD to help the department cover for the growing cost of the war with Iran.

In a post on the social media site X, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, rejected the suggestion that the agreement is siphoning money away from research and said that the partnership will “focus on research projects that will drive discoveries to improve the health of American citizens and members of the military.”

“Led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all work will be 100% aligned with our public health mission,” Bhattacharya said.

A new study underscores the importance of indoor air quality at schools, with the suggestion that children exposed to classroom dust with higher levels of two common bacterial pathogens have slightly impaired lung function.

For the study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the researchers analyzed data from the Schools Indoor Pollution and Health: Observatory Network in Europe (SINPHONIE) project. 

The study measured levels of Streptomyces and Mycobacterium species in dust in nearly 300 classrooms in 22 European countries. The two kinds of bacteria are commonly found in soil, dust, and water systems.

The team also used spirometry to test the lung function of children from each classroom to calculate the volume of air the lungs can hold and how quickly that volume of air can be exhaled. 

“We know that indoor air quality in schools can be affected by pollutants, humidity, ventilation, temperature, dampness, and biological agents like fungi and bacteria,” presenter Soutrik Banerjee, MS, of the University of Ferrara in Italy and French engineering firm Alten, said in an ERS news release. “However, much less is known about whether the types of bacteria growing in classroom dust are linked to children’s lung function.”

Impairment was modest

Children in classrooms with higher concentrations of Streptomyces had a slightly lower forced vital capacity, a measure of how much air a person can blow out after taking a deep breath. 

• The Florida Department of Health is reporting increasing cases of locally acquired dengue. As of August 29, the state has 73 local cases of the mosquito-borne illness, of which 32 were reported last week. Of the 73 cases, 65 are in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. Before the Labor Day weekend, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, and Pinellas counties issued mosquito-borne illness alerts. State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, told Floridians last week, “Use insect repellent, cover up when possible, and remove standing water around your home. Individual prevention helps protect you and your community.” In addition to local cases, 136 travel-associated dengue cases have been reported in Florida this year.
• A South Dakota beef herd has the state’s first confirmed detection of anthrax since 2024. The herd was likely exposed in Butte County, where they were taken to graze. Cattle owners first reported symptoms in Meade County, and the state’s Animal Industry Board has quarantined the affected herd and notified herd owners in the area. All adult cattle in the herd have also been vaccinated. 
• The Associated Press says that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) foreign food-site inspections are down 35% since 2019, a trend that was accelerated during the pandemic and may have played a role in the massive Cyclospora outbreak that occurred this summer, as lettuce grown in Mexico was implicated in the outbreak. The FDA has been plagued by retirements and departures, which have only increased since President Donald Trump began his second term in 2025. Foreign food inspections fell further behind last year, down 17% to 1,140, in fiscal year 2025 from the prior year.