Methodology

Why this site exists

Ebola is a YMYL ("your money or your life") topic in search-engine terms: misinformation is dangerous. We built EbolaIntel because during the 2014–2016 epidemic and again in 2018–2020 the gap between primary sources and what casual readers actually saw on the web was large, persistent, and harmful. The site has one editorial brief: be the page that gets the basic facts right, with every claim traceable to a primary source the reader can verify.

What counts as a case

We report figures using the same definitions WHO Disease Outbreak News uses:

• Confirmed case: laboratory-confirmed (RT-PCR positive, ideally with sequence-level strain identification).
• Probable case: clinically compatible illness in a person epidemiologically linked to a confirmed case, in the absence of laboratory testing.
• Suspected case: clinically compatible illness without epidemiological link or laboratory confirmation. We do not include suspected cases in headline totals; we note them separately.

CFR reporting

Case fatality rate (CFR) is computed as deaths divided by total reported cases. During an active outbreak this is an apparent CFR - it will revise upward as currently-ill patients reach outcome, and may revise downward if previously-unreported survivors enter the case count. We mark active-outbreak CFRs as preliminary on the relevant pages.

When sources disagree

WHO, Africa CDC, US CDC, and national Ministries of Health do not always publish identical numbers. When they diverge we apply the following ranking:

1. Most recent published WHO Disease Outbreak News for the event.
2. WHO AFRO operational situation reports.
3. Africa CDC weekly briefs.
4. The relevant national MoH bulletin (often the most current but sometimes inconsistent in classification).
5. Peer-reviewed retrospective analyses (CDC EID, NEJM, Lancet) for outbreaks that have closed.

We do not aggregate or reconcile silently. When a discrepancy is material, we name both numbers and the sources, and let the reader judge.

Update cadence

During an active PHEIC, the active outbreak page is reviewed against primary sources at least once per day. Every page carries a "Last updated" date in the header so readers can judge currency. Off-PHEIC, reference pages (strains, vaccines, treatments) are reviewed on each major regulatory or scientific update and at least quarterly.

Editorial independence

EbolaIntel is operated by an independent editor (see about). Analytics are self-hosted and cookieless; the site has no third-party trackers. Material relationships that could affect coverage will be disclosed on the about page if they emerge.

Errors

Email thomas@ebolaintel.com with errors or omissions. Corrections are usually published within 24 hours during active outbreaks and within a week otherwise. Significant corrections are noted in the page's update history.