A U.S. medical missionary who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being transported to Germany for treatment, as global health officials warn that the outbreak is spreading faster than initially detected.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the patient would be treated at Charité University Hospital in Berlin after Washington requested assistance from German authorities. The patient has been identified by the Serge Christian mission organisation as Peter Stafford, a physician working in Bunia, in northeastern DRC.
Germany’s health ministry confirmed that the American citizen would be admitted to a special isolation unit at Charité. U.S. officials said arrangements were also being finalised to transfer six high-risk contacts to Europe for quarantine and monitoring, with five expected to go to Germany and one to the Czech Republic.
CDC Ebola response incident manager Dr. Satish Pillai said the risk to the United States remains low, adding that federal officials are coordinating with state, local, tribal and territorial health departments.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has alarmed the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned” by the scale and speed of the epidemic, which has produced more than 500 suspected cases and at least 130 suspected deaths.
The outbreak is centred in eastern DRC’s Ituri province, but cases have also been confirmed in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. WHO has warned that urban cases, high mobility, conflict and gaps in disease surveillance increase the risk of further spread.
Health officials say the Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. Existing Ebola vaccines are designed for the Zaire strain, which caused previous major outbreaks in DRC. Experts are now considering possible use of experimental vaccines and therapeutics.
DRC virus expert Jean-Jacques Muyembe said the country expects shipments of experimental vaccines from the United States and United Kingdom.
The WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, but stopped short of classifying it as a pandemic emergency. Its teams expect the outbreak could last at least two more months, depending on how quickly cases are detected, isolated and traced.
