A US doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working with a medical missionary group in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being treated at a hospital in Germany. officials said.
The American is in a special isolation ward at Charité hospital in Berlin. Germany's Foreign Health Ministry said, after he was evacuated from Central Africa.
At least 131 deaths have been reported in an Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo. with more than 513 cases suspected, officials have said.
The US Centers for Disease Control. Prevention (CDC) said it was working to evacuate at least six other Americans who were exposed to the deadly virus.
The CDC did not identify the American working in DR Congo who was stricken with the virus on Sunday.
But medical missionary group Serge said later on Monday that one of its US doctors. Peter Stafford, had tested positive for Ebola.
He was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia, where he has worked since 2023, said the charity.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the CDC. the World Health Organization (WHO) were leading the response to Ebola, adding the WHO had been "a little late to identify" the outbreak.
He said the US had set aside $14m (£10m) to help clinics in rural areas respond to the health crisis.
"It's a kind of confined and hard-to-get-to place in a war-torn country, unfortunately," he said. "But we'll have more to announce on that. We're going to lean into that pretty heavy."
Two other doctors from the medical group who were exposed while treating patients, including Stafford's wife, Dr Rebekah Stafford, did not have symptoms. were following quarantine protocols, the group saidin a statement.
Serge said the Staffords. their four young children were in a location where they can undergo risk monitoring and receive specialised medical care.
The Staffords met in medical school at Ohio State University and wed in 2013, according to Serge.
Peter specialises in general surgery and Rebekah's expertise is in obstetrics and gynaecology, said the charity in anonline profile.
The couple first moved in 2019 to Africa, where they also worked in Togo.
The CDC issued a new order on Monday blocking foreign travellers from entering the US if they have visited a country affected by the outbreak in the past 21 days, including DR Congo, Uganda. South Sudan.
The agency invoked Title 42. a law that temporarily bans non citizens from coming to the US for public health reasons.
CDC officials emphasised that the risk to the American public remained low. The CDC is sending staff from Atlanta to the epicentre of the outbreak to help with the response.
President Donald Trump said on Monday he was "concerned" by the outbreak in DR Congo,. added he believed it had not spread to the US.
The WHO has declared the outbreak an international emergency.
The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved drugs or vaccines.
The WHO has said the outbreak in DR Congo's eastern Ituri province is a public health emergency of international concern,. did not meet the criteria of a pandemic.
The agency also warned it could potentially be "a much larger outbreak" than what is currently being detected. reported, with significant risk of local and regional spread.
More than 28,600 people were infected by Ebola during the 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa. the largest outbreak of the virus since its discovery in 1976.
The disease spread to a number of countries within. outside of West Africa, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, the US, UK and Italy, killing 11,325 people.
Ebola viruses normally infect animals, typically fruit bats,. outbreaks among humans can sometimes start when people eat or handle infected animals.
It takes two to 21 days for symptoms to appear. They come on suddenly and start like the flu, with fever, headache and tiredness.
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