Missionary contracts Ebola while traveling to Germany

US Medical Missionary Transported to Germany for Treatment Amidst Ongoing Ebola Outbreak

A medical missionary who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being transported to Germany for treatment, according to a statement from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The patient, identified as Peter Stafford by the Serge Christian mission organisation, will be treated at Charite University Hospital in Berlin upon arrival.

The CDC has requested assistance from Germany to admit and treat the patient. The US citizen’s condition is currently being monitored by health authorities.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an outbreak of a rare kind of Ebola virus in the DRC and Uganda has resulted in over 130 reported deaths, with more than 500 suspected cases. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern about the scale and speed of the epidemic.

The leader of the WHO’s team in the DRC anticipates the outbreak to last for at least another two months. The CDC is finalising plans to transport six other individuals considered high-risk contacts to Europe, including Germany. These individuals will be placed in quarantine during their monitoring period.

One person will travel to the Czech Republic, while the remaining five will go to Germany. Dr Satish Pillai, incident manager for the CDC Ebola response, stated that the current risk to the US from the outbreak remains low, and coordination is being made with state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments.

Source: Al Jazeera