Church of God News

Ebola and infectious disease risk of FIFA World Cup

COGwriter

The Ebola virus is dangerous. The World Health Organization just published the following:

13 June 2026

The Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to evolve rapidly, with increasing case numbers and geographic spread. As of 10 June, a cumulative of 676 confirmed cases, including 136 deaths, have been reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 11 June, Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases including two deaths, as well as one probable case who has died. In Uganda, the outbreak remains epidemiologically linked to transmission originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with evidence of both imported infections and secondary transmission among contacts and healthcare workers. Uganda has not reported any new cases in the past six days. National authorities in the two affected countries, in collaboration with WHO and partners, are implementing a comprehensive package of response measures. A regional preparedness and prioritization framework continues to guide readiness activities across the African Region. …

Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) is a severe and often fatal form of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus, one of the Orthoebolavirus species. It is a zoonotic disease, with fruit bats suspected to be the natural reservoir. Human infection is thought to occur through close contact with the blood or secretions of infected wildlife, such as bats or non-human primates, and it subsequently spreads from person to person through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces or items. Transmission is particularly amplified in health-care settings when infection prevention and control (IPC) measures are inadequate, and during unsafe burial practices involving direct contact with the deceased.

The incubation period for BVD ranges from two to 21 days, and individuals are not infectious until symptom onset. Early symptoms such as fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, are non-specific, which complicates clinical diagnosis and can delay detection. These symptoms then progress to gastrointestinal symptoms, organ dysfunction, and in some cases haemorrhagic manifestations. Case fatality rates in the past two BVD outbreaks, reported in Uganda and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007 and 2012 were 30% and 50% respectively.

Differentiating BVD from other endemic febrile illnesses such as malaria is challenging without laboratory confirmation using PCR or antigen/antibody-based assays. Control relies on rapid case identification, isolation and care, contact tracing, safe burials, and strong community engagement, as no approved vaccines or specific treatments currently exist for BVD. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON607

Ebola originated in bats. Fruit bats are eaten by people in parts of West Africa where they are smoked, grilled or made into a spicy soup.  If this practice and certain others were stopped, this would help reduce the spread of the disease.  And it is not just fruit bats, the Reston ebolavirus (REBOV) can be transmitted to pigs and was found in Virginia in 1989. Yes, it is the eating of bats, a biblically unclean animal–specifically warned against eating in Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18–that seems to be the true cause of Ebola.

Unclean meat consumption is a major factor in producing virus problems.

That said, one does not have to eat unclean animals to catch it.

There are concerns that events such as the FIFA World Cup can bring in and spread infectious diseases:

The FIFA World Cup will bring tourism, soccer fans — and the risk of infectious diseases

Updated 12 June 2026

Walking through downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park a couple weeks before the city hosts its first soccer game, preparations for the FIFA World Cup are on full display. …

“How are you going look at people as they’re coming in, and then what are you going to do … if anyone becomes ill or you start to see signals of an outbreak happening,” Guest said.

Right now, a series of public health emergencies are straining healthcare workers in the U.S. and globally. An outbreak of Ebola in eastern Africa could become the deadliest to date, and hantavirus infections this year, while not categorized as a widespread threat, have tested the public’s trust in state and federal agencies that have had to scramble in a coordinated response. https://www.gpb.org/news/2026/06/11/the-fifa-world-cup-will-bring-tourism-soccer-fans-and-the-risk-of-infectious

Infectious disease threats test public health

U.S. health officials are deploying emergency measures against New World screwworm while monitoring other infectious disease risks ahead of the World Cup and America250 celebrations.

Why it matters: Health experts warn existing and proposed federal funding cuts could weaken disease surveillance and outbreak response ahead of major U.S. events. …

The CDC’s emergency measures came as infectious disease experts briefed reporters on preparations for major events this year, with respiratory pathogens including COVID and measles among the biggest concerns.

  • Krutika Kuppalli, an associate professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and one of the briefing speakers, tells Axios New World screwworm, Ebola and hantavirus are very different threats that share a common theme. …
  • Benjamin says that health officials face “significant challenges” from earlier funding cuts in responding to all three threats and that it’s likely the U.S. will see “at least” one Ebola case — as it did during the 2013-2016 outbreak that resulted in the death of a Dallas man. https://www.axios.com/2026/06/12/new-world-screwworm-ebola-infectious-disease-trump

June 12, 2026

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which began yesterday and runs till July 19, is the largest soccer tournament held in its almost 100-year history. More than 100 matches will take place in 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico with 48 national teams—16 teams more than in the 2022 World Cup.

Planning the public health response for an event of this scale is intensive and involves a lot of coordination, Rebecca Katz PhD, MPH, professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, told CIDRAP News. Seeing it in action will show how well some US public health measures work.

“It’s also a test of some of the surveillance tools that we rolled out during the pandemic but we can use at scale during the World Cup,” she said. “I’m thinking specifically around things like wastewater surveillance… It’s a way to see just how powerful that surveillance tool is. …

Philadelphia has consulted with federal health agencies about its preparations. But Garrow said that public health normally takes place at the local level.

“Federal health agencies are not really on-the-ground responders,” he said. “There are situations where like an Ebola case coming into any of the FIFA cities, the federal government has the capacity to be able to swoop in and help support that. But when we’re talking about a heat (illness) or air quality or measles outbreak, the federal government has a lesser role.” https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-health/behind-scenes-work-protecting-world-cup-fans-infectious-diseases

Yes, bringing people in from around the world to crowded events means that even places far from Africa may be at risk for diseases from there and elsewhere.

Jesus, Himself, warned that the “signs” of the end of the age would include pestilences:

7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:6-8)

11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)

In the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation, the ride of four horsemen are described. The passages about the fourth horseman are as follows:

7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8)

So, the opening of the fourth seal is the time that the pale horse of death is apparently increasing death by war, hunger, and pestilences (the beasts of the earth)–more deadly disease outbreaks are prophesied.

In the 21st century, 1/4 of the population amounts to about 2 billion being killed via the ride of the fourth horseman!

Since massive repentance is not expected, the solution will be God’s intervention, and the establishment of the coming Kingdom of God.

That is good news.

However, before then, more pestilences are coming (Revelation 6:7-8).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous? There is also a sermon-length video on this: Christians and Unclean Meats; four short videos are also available: Did Jesus declare all animal flesh food?, Should Christians Eat Insects?, COVID, Pandemics, and Unclean Meat, and Unclean Meat and True Christianity.

Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.

Biological Warfare and Prophecy. Is biological warfare possible? Was it prophesied? Scientists have long warned that pathogenic organisms like the coronavirus could be weaponized. Furthermore, back in 2017, there were concerns that the biological research facility being constructed in Wuhan, China was risky and that a coronavirus from it could be released. On January 25, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly stated that the situation with the Wuhan-related strain of the coronavirus was grave. Did Church of God writers like the late evangelist Raymond McNair warn that engineered viruses (the “Doomsday bug”) were consistent with prophecies from Jesus? Did a warning from CCOG leader Bob Thiel warn about risks of genetically-modified (GMO) mosquitoes come to pass? Could human research and/or the consumption of biblically-unclean animals such as bats and snakes be a factor in current outbreaks or coming future pestilences? What about famines? How devastating have pestilences been? How devastating are the prophesied ones going to be? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.