The Trump administration has reportedly barred key US infectious disease experts from directly communicating with the World Health Organisation (WHO) during active outbreak responses, including the escalating Ebola crisis in Central Africa.
The restrictions, revealed through internal documents and multiple sources gathered by CNN, have triggered alarm among former health officials who say the policy is slowing cooperation at a moment when global disease surveillance depends on speed.
US Scientists Cut Out Of WHO Discussions
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the federal agency long associated with Dr Anthony Fauci, were instructed not to communicate directly with the WHO unless authorised by senior officials, according to documents obtained by CNN.
The policy remained in force during two major public health concerns now under international monitoring. One involves a growing Ebola outbreak centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The other concerns a hantavirus exposure event linked to a cruise ship carrying American passengers.
Internal guidance reportedly prevented many NIAID experts from joining direct international discussions with WHO officials and foreign researchers responsible for coordinating outbreak responses.
An 18 May email sent to staff outlined limited exemptions. Under the revised arrangement, small groups of NIAID officials could attend WHO meetings virtually, but only in a 'listening capacity' and with no more than three experts participating at once.
'We'll be operating in the same manner for Ebola as we have been doing for Hantavirus,' the email stated.
Any research proposals, testing discussions or follow-up communication would instead move through the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Former and current health officials told CNN the arrangement was highly unusual during an international disease emergency, where rapid information sharing often happens directly between scientists rather than through political channels.
After CNN published its report, an administration official reportedly said as many as 30 NIAID employees were now authorised to attend WHO meetings.
Ebola Outbreak Intensifies As Health Leadership Thins
The restrictions arrive as the WHO has raised its Ebola risk assessment in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 'high' to 'very high'.
Although no US Ebola cases have been confirmed, federal agencies have already tightened monitoring procedures for travellers arriving from affected regions.
Passengers entering the US after travelling through outbreak zones are being directed through designated screening airports, including Dulles International near Washington, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
One American doctor infected while working in Africa is currently being treated in Germany. Another US citizen is under monitoring.
At the same time, 18 passengers exposed during the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak remain quarantined in Nebraska while dozens more continue under observation.
The broader concern among public health officials extends beyond the outbreaks themselves. Critics argue the administration's restrictions have collided with an unprecedented leadership vacuum across major federal health agencies.
Several senior positions remain unfilled, including the heads of the CDC, FDA and NIAID.
The situation became especially visible during the hantavirus response when Assistant Secretary for Health Brian Christine was sent to Nebraska as the administration's public face. Christine is a urologist best known for specialising in penile implants and for controversial far right comments that previously drew scrutiny.
Sources familiar with the decision told CNN he was dispatched partly because no more senior confirmed health official was available.
Critics Warn US Is Isolating Itself
The communication restrictions are part of a broader Trump administration retreat from global health institutions following the US withdrawal from the WHO earlier this year.
The move drew fierce criticism from infectious disease experts who warned the US risked weakening its own outbreak response capabilities by distancing itself from international surveillance networks.
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former State Department official under both Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said the administration had effectively dismantled communication structures built over decades.
'We have public health leadership in this country now that have written off most of the institutions with global health,' he said.
Konyndyk also pointed to the dismantling of much of the US Agency for International Development's health infrastructure after sweeping government cuts last year.
He argued that local reporting systems once funded through USAID previously helped identify dangerous outbreaks before they spread internationally.
'If there were multiple US government health partners seeing clusters of unexplained viral hemorrhagic fever, they would have been sending that up the chain,' he said. 'Except that they didn't really have anyone to send it up the chain to anymore.'
The DHHS defended its handling of the situation, insisting the government remains 'fully equipped to protect Americans and mitigate risks'.
A senior State Department official also rejected suggestions that the WHO withdrawal or USAID cuts had hampered the Ebola response.
Critics now argue those lines of communication are being filtered through political management at precisely the wrong moment.
