An American physician working with a medical missionary organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has tested positive for Ebola, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the aid group said.
Dr. Peter Stafford, who has served at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia since 2023 with the missionary organization Serge, was evacuated to Germany and is receiving care after testing positive for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus variant. Serge said the infection likely followed exposure during a surgery at the hospital.
Matt Allison, executive director of Serge, said Stafford is receiving the best available care and is being monitored. His wife, Rebekah, also a physician with Serge, is isolating in Congo with their four young children and is being monitored for symptoms. Allison said the organization and partners are working on an evacuation plan for the family.
A third Serge physician, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, is also isolating and under observation, the group said.
Health officials say the current outbreak has killed at least 131 people in Congo and one person in neighboring Uganda, according to statements from Congo health minister Samuel Roger Kamba and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Sunday.
The CDC reported that six additional Americans who were exposed in the outbreak, separate from Stafford, are expected to be moved out of the region so they can be monitored or treated if needed.
The first suspected case in this outbreak was a health worker who developed symptoms on April 24 and later died in Bunia, the WHO said. Since then, suspected cases have risen and crossed borders. Officials say the outbreak’s location in an urban area with substantial population movement, combined with insecurity and attacks by armed groups, raises concern about further spread.
This is only the third known outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of ebolavirus. Unlike the more common Zaire strain, the Bundibugyo variant currently has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. The strain was first identified in Uganda in 2007.
Ebolaviruses spread between people through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood, vomit, saliva or semen. Early symptoms typically include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. As illness progresses, patients can develop vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash, organ dysfunction and, in some cases, internal or external bleeding. Because transmission requires close contact, family members, caregivers and health workers are at heightened risk when caring for infected patients.
Serge and public health authorities emphasized that medical staff adhered to international standards, and that monitoring, isolation and evacuation measures are being used to limit further transmission. Leigh Ann Winick contributed to this report.