{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T10:07:55Z","timestamp":1788862075923,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the first Ebola-related PHEIC caused by a species lacking a licensed vaccine, has been accompanied by an information crisis marked by conspiracy-driven violence against response teams and destruction of treatment centres. Understanding what populations actually seek to know during such events is essential for designing effective communication strategies, yet the content of public information demand during Ebola outbreaks has not been systematically characterised. We combined Google Autocomplete query extraction (7347 unique queries from 83 seed terms in English and French) with Google Trends temporal analysis across six Ebola outbreaks (2014\u20132026). The autocomplete suggestion landscape was dominated by risk quantification and transmission concerns. Google Trends temporal analysis showed moderate to strong co-movement between misinformation-related search terms and overall Ebola search interest (Spearman \u03c1 = 0.359\u20130.697, nominal p &lt; 0.001). Substantial differences emerged between the English-language and French-language suggestion sets: French-language suggestions contained six times more misinformation and conspiracy content (4.9% vs. 0.8%) and nearly nine times more fear-related content (3.5% vs. 0.4%) than English-language suggestions. These findings demonstrate that infodemic management strategies designed in Anglophone contexts are inadequate for the populations most at risk and should inform linguistically adapted interventions for the ongoing response.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v18090987","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T09:02:24Z","timestamp":1788858144000},"page":"987","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Public Information Demand During the 2026 Bundibugyo Virus Outbreak: A Dual Infodemiology Analysis Across Six Ebola Virus Disease Outbreaks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Hakk\u0131","family":"\u00d6zt\u00fcrk","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Afyonkarahisar Provincial Health Services Directorate, Afyonkarahisar 03200, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0834-900X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Berrak It\u0131r","family":"Ayl\u0131","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1B 2HW, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, July 30). Ebola Virus Disease: Fact Sheet [Internet]. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/ebola-virus-disease."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S93","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/jiw207","article-title":"Discovery and Description of Ebola Zaire Virus in 1976 and Relevance to the West African Epidemic During 2013\u20132016","volume":"214","author":"Breman","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"911","DOI":"10.1099\/jgv.0.001252","article-title":"ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Filoviridae","volume":"100","author":"Kuhn","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Gen. Virol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"WHO Ebola Response Team (2014). Ebola virus disease in West Africa\u2014The first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. N. Engl. J. Med., 371, 1481\u20131495.","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa1411100"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20160297","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2016.0297","article-title":"The Ebola outbreak, 2013\u20132016: Old lessons for new epidemics","volume":"372","author":"Coltart","year":"2017","journal-title":"Philos. Trans. R Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2083","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa1411099","article-title":"Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo","volume":"371","author":"Maganga","year":"2014","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMsr1904253","article-title":"The Ongoing Ebola Epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2018\u20132019","volume":"381","author":"Moeti","year":"2019","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, July 29). Disease Outbreak News|Ebola Virus Disease\u2014Democratic Republic of the Congo [Internet]. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/disease-outbreak-news."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, July 29). Disease Outbreak News|Ebola Virus Disease\u2014Uganda [Internet]. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/disease-outbreak-news\/item\/2025-DON589."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, July 29). Ebola Outbreak\u2014DRC 2026. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/situations\/ebola-outbreak---drc-2026."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2497","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(26)01101-3","article-title":"WHO and Africa CDC declare the 2026 Ebola disease outbreak a public health emergency","volume":"407","author":"Ngongo","year":"2026","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (2026, July 30). Ebola Disease Outbreak 2026: How MSF Is Responding [Internet]. MSF. Available online: https:\/\/www.doctorswithoutborders.org\/latest\/ebola-disease-outbreak-2026-how-msf-responding."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"278","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMra2607216","article-title":"Bundibugyo Virus Disease in 2026\u2014Clinical and Public Health Responses","volume":"395","author":"Sullivan","year":"2026","journal-title":"N. Engl. J. Med."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2026, July 30). Infodemic [Internet]. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/infodemic."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e19659","DOI":"10.2196\/19659","article-title":"Framework for Managing the COVID-19 Infodemic: Methods and Results of an Online, Crowdsourced WHO Technical Consultation","volume":"22","author":"Tangcharoensathien","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sell, T.K., Hosangadi, D., and Trotochaud, M. (2020). Misinformation and the US Ebola communication crisis: Analyzing the veracity and content of social media messages related to a fear-inducing infectious disease outbreak. BMC Public Health, 20.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-020-08697-3"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"g6178","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.g6178","article-title":"Ebola, Twitter, and misinformation: A dangerous combination?","volume":"349","author":"Oyeyemi","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(19)30063-5","article-title":"Institutional trust and misinformation in the response to the 2018\u201319 Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, DR Congo: A population-based survey","volume":"19","author":"Vinck","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2026, July 30). Ebola Outbreak: Current Situation, Available online: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ebola\/situation-summary\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1007\/s10389-021-01565-3","article-title":"Understanding misinformation infodemic during public health emergencies due to large-scale disease outbreaks: A rapid review","volume":"31","author":"Chowdhury","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"The Disinformation Observer (2026, July 30). This Week in Disinformation: 24\u201330 May 2026. Ebola Information Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo [Internet]. Available online: https:\/\/thedisinformationobserver.substack.com\/p\/this-week-in-disinformation-24-30."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e11","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.1157","article-title":"Infodemiology and infoveillance: Framework for an emerging set of public health informatics methods to analyze search, communication and publication behavior on the Internet","volume":"11","author":"Eysenbach","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S154","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amepre.2011.02.006","article-title":"Infodemiology and infoveillance: Tracking online health information and cyberbehavior for public health","volume":"40","author":"Eysenbach","year":"2011","journal-title":"Am. J. Prev. Med."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e9","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.5729","article-title":"Internet Health Information Seeking and the Patient-Physician Relationship: A Systematic Review","volume":"19","author":"Tan","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Fox, S., and Duggan, M. (2013). Health Online 2013, Pew Research Center."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e13439","DOI":"10.2196\/13439","article-title":"Google Trends in Infodemiology and Infoveillance: Methodology Framework","volume":"5","author":"Mavragani","year":"2019","journal-title":"JMIR Public Health Surveill."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"622","article-title":"Autocomplete: Dr Google\u2019s \u201chelpful\u201d assistant?","volume":"62","author":"Loh","year":"2016","journal-title":"Can. Fam. Physician"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1186\/s40249-015-0090-9","article-title":"Assessing Ebola-related web search behaviour: Insights and implications from an analytical study of Google Trends-based query volumes","volume":"4","author":"Alicino","year":"2015","journal-title":"Infect. Dis. Poverty"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Towers, S., Afzal, S., Bernal, G., Bliss, N., Brown, S., Espinoza, B., Jackson, J., Judson-Garcia, J., Khan, M., and Lin, M. (2015). Mass Media and the Contagion of Fear: The Case of Ebola in America. PLoS ONE, 10.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0129179"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"665","DOI":"10.1002\/jcop.23013","article-title":"Understanding search autocompletes from the perspectives of English and Spanish speakers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"52","author":"Valera","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Community Psychol."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2020.03.021","article-title":"Applications of Google Search Trends for risk communication in infectious disease management: A case study of the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan","volume":"95","author":"Husnayain","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e270","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.9366","article-title":"Assessing the Methods, Tools, and Statistical Approaches in Google Trends Research: Systematic Review","volume":"20","author":"Mavragani","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"218","DOI":"10.1002\/pra2.450","article-title":"\u201cCOVID19 is_\u201d: The Perpetuation of Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories via Google Autocomplete","volume":"58","author":"Houli","year":"2021","journal-title":"Proc. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e30971","DOI":"10.2196\/30971","article-title":"Infodemic Signal Detection During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development of a Methodology for Identifying Potential Information Voids in Online Conversations","volume":"1","author":"Purnat","year":"2021","journal-title":"JMIR Infodemiology"},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2026, July 30). Building Trust Is Key to Stopping the Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo [Internet]. IFRC. Available online: https:\/\/www.ifrc.org\/press-release\/building-trust-key-stopping-ebola-outbreak-democratic-republic-congo-ifrc-says."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"626","DOI":"10.9745\/GHSP-D-16-00226","article-title":"Social Mobilization and Community Engagement Central to the Ebola Response in West Africa: Lessons for Future Public Health Emergencies","volume":"4","author":"Gillespie","year":"2016","journal-title":"Glob. Health Sci. Pract."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"United Nations News (2026, July 30). Some question if Ebola is real\u2019: How trust is central in fighting DRC outbreak [Internet]. UN News, Available online: https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2026\/06\/1167725."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"The New Humanitarian (2026, July 27). Ebola Outbreak: A Crisis of History, Not Misinformation [Internet]. Available online: https:\/\/www.thenewhumanitarian.org\/opinion\/2026\/06\/18\/ebola-outbreak-crisis-history-not-misinformation."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"International Medical Corps (2026, July 30). The Battle Against Ebola\u2014And Misinformation [Internet]. IMC. Available online: https:\/\/internationalmedicalcorps.org\/story\/the-battle-against-ebola-and-misinformation\/."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1539-6924.1988.tb01168.x","article-title":"The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework","volume":"8","author":"Kasperson","year":"1988","journal-title":"Risk Anal."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"410","DOI":"10.1057\/s41271-020-00247-w","article-title":"Leveraging media and health communication strategies to overcome the COVID-19 infodemic","volume":"41","author":"Mheidly","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Public Health Policy"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1621","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.20-0812","article-title":"COVID-19-Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis","volume":"103","author":"Islam","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1038\/s44298-026-00204-6","article-title":"Bundibugyo virus\u2014Perspectives for the current outbreak","volume":"4","author":"Hoenen","year":"2026","journal-title":"npj Viruses"},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"(2021). WHO Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics, World Health Organization."}],"container-title":["Viruses"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/9\/987\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T09:08:08Z","timestamp":1788858488000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/9\/987"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["v18090987"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/v18090987","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4915"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1999-4915","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]}}}