Instrument 08 · runs in your browser
Outbreak detective
The cleanest possible lesson in evidence tiers, because this one resolved in public within 48 hours. The lesson is the ladder, not the outbreak.
Contact
A person who was exposed to a case. Being a contact says nothing at all about whether they are ill.
Suspected
Meets the clinical case definition. No laboratory result yet. This is where almost all early reporting sits.
Probable
Meets the clinical definition plus an epidemiological link, but still no confirmatory laboratory result.
Confirmed
Laboratory-confirmed. Only now is the disease named as a fact.
On 6 August, results were not back. Quarantine over 200 people, or wait?
Ages 8–11
Doctors wait for the test before they say what someone has. Waiting is part of doing it right.
Ages 12–14
Four words, four meanings: contact, suspected, probable, confirmed. Sort ten headlines into the right box.
Ages 15–18
Run the Maluku sequence as a decision exercise. Quarantine before results, or wait? Justify against the case definition, not the outcome.
Ages Adults
Two sources reporting different totals for the same week is a data-cutoff artifact, not a cover-up. Check the “as of” date first.
CDC Ebola situation summary, 7 Aug 2026; CDC HAN 00530; WHO DRC outbreak page; Africa CDC situation reports. Corroborating: AP, 9 Aug 2026 — via Case Engine Module 04.