Threatwatch: Will Deadly Ebola Become More Contagious?

Threatwatch is your early warning system for global dangers, from nuclear peril to deadly viral outbreaks. Debora MacKenzie highlights the threats to civilisation – and suggests solutions

Ebola, the deadly haemorrhagic fever made famous by the film Outbreak, has broken out in the West African state of Guinea, a first for that country. So far it has killed 59 of the 86 people known to be infected.

The outbreak is a terrible tragedy for those people and their loved ones, and of serious concern to anyone who has come into close contact with an infected person, but how scary is it for the wider world? Right now, not that scary, but that could change. As equatorial Africa is increasingly urbanised, it could provide the conditions for the virus to evolve into something just as deadly and much more contagious.