A staff in a protective gown prepares to inspect visitors as a preventive measure against Ebola at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Tuesday, the same day U.S. health officials said an American infected with the virus was being sent to Germany for treatment. File Photo by MARIE JEANNE MUNYERENKANA/EPA
An American missionary physician working in the Democratic Republic of Congo has contracted Ebola and is being transferred to Germany, U.S. health officials said, as the outbreak in central Africa worsens.
Dr. Satish Pillai, incident manager for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response, told reporters in a Tuesday press conference that an American exposed to the virus while working in the DRC has tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is responsible for the ongoing outbreak.
Pillai did not identify the American patient by name, but the Christian missionary agency Serge has said it is Dr. Peter Stafford, a medical missionary who was treating patients in eastern DRC’s Ituri Province, where the Ebola outbreak is centered.
The patient was being transferred to Germany for care, Pillai said, while thanking his German, Ugandan and DRC colleagues for their “vital partnerships in facilitating these transfers.”
As to why the patient was transferred to Germany and not back to the United States, Pillai explained the treatment needed to be administered rapidly and appropriately, with Germany being the most equipped and closest location.
Serge also confirmed that Stafford had been safely evacuated.
The outbreak has grown by nearly 170 suspected and confirmed cases in the last 24 hours, all in the DRC. The epidemic’s case total now stands at 536 suspected cases, 105 probable cases, 34 confirmed cases and 134 deaths, according to the CDC.
All but two cases — both confirmed Ebola infections, including one death, in Uganda — have been in the DRC, and those two cases were linked to recent travel to the DRC.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday.
The confirmation comes after reporting from earlier this week that a number of Americans in the DRC had been exposed to the virus.
During the Tuesday press conference, Pillai said six other Americans in the DRC have been identified as “high-risk contacts” and plans were being finalized to arrange their transfer to Germany, where “they will be in quarantine” for a monitoring period.
One of the individuals will be transferred to the Czech Republic, he said.
Serge said that of the six high-risk contacts, two were also members of its mission, including Dr. Rebekah Stafford, Peter Stafford’s wife.
The Staffords first moved to Africa as part of a different evangelical humanitarian and aid organization in 2019 and joined Serge two years later, according to Serge’s website.
“Our hearts are with the Stafford family and with the Congolese communities facing this outbreak,” Matt Allison, executive director of Serge, said in a statement.
