AMERICAN DOCTOR CONFIRMED IN EBOLA OUTBREAK IN CONGO AS DEATH TOLL RISES

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — An American doctor in Congo is among the newly confirmed cases in an outbreak of a rare variant of the Ebola virus with no approved vaccines or therapeutics, Congolese officials said Monday. Deaths have surpassed 100 in two provinces and details emerged about the government's delayed response to the outbreak.

The doctor is among the cases in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in eastern Congo, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, medical director of the country's National Institute of Bio-Medical Research. Dr. Peter Stafford had been treating patients at a hospital there when he developed symptoms, Serge, the organization he works for, said in a statement.

Three other employees of Serge were working at the same hospital — including the doctor's wife — but are not showing symptoms.

Seven Americans, including the one who tested positive, are being transported to Germany for monitoring, Dr. Satish Pillai of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a call with reporters. Pillai stated that the American developed symptoms over the weekend.

CDC officials did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about which facility or facilities in Germany they are being taken, or about the case patient’s current condition.

The World Health Organization on Sunday declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. As of Monday, there were over 300 suspected cases and 118 deaths in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, with two deaths reported in neighboring Uganda.

The Bundibugyo strain spread undetected for at least a few weeks, health experts and aid workers noted. Cases have now been confirmed in Bunia, North Kivu's rebel-held capital of Goma, Mongbwalu, Butembo, and Nyakunde.

“Because early tests looked for the wrong strain of Ebola, we got false negatives and lost weeks of response time,” said Matthew M. Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy and Politics. “We are playing catch-up against a very dangerous pathogen.”

Kavanagh criticized the previous U.S. administration's decision to withdraw from the WHO and make significant cuts in foreign aid. “When you pull billions out of the WHO and dismantle frontline USAID programs, you gut the exact surveillance system meant to catch these viruses early,” he remarked.

Congo's health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, announced the government was opening three treatment centers. The WHO stated it sent a team of experts and supplies.

Congo reported that the first person died from the virus on April 24 in Bunia, with the body repatriated to the Mongbwalu health zone, a mining area with a large population.

“That caused the Ebola outbreak to escalate,” Kamba stated.

When another person fell ill on April 26, samples were sent to Kinshasa for testing, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control. On May 5, the WHO was alerted about approximately 50 deaths in Mongbwalu, including four health workers. The first case was confirmed on May 14.

Samples from Bunia were initially tested for the more common Ebola strain, Zaire, Congolese officials said. They came back negative, Dr. Richard Kitenge, the Health Ministry Incident Manager for Ebola, explained.

The first confirmation of Ebola occurred on May 14, and the Bundibugyo strain was confirmed the following day. Now, more resources are being rushed to the region.

“The situation is quite worrying and is evolving pretty quickly,” Esther Sterk with the Medecins Sans Frontieres aid group told the AP. “It was detected quite late.” However, she noted that this delay is often seen with Ebola outbreaks, which share symptoms with other tropical diseases.

On Sunday, CBS News reported that at least six Americans have been exposed to Ebola in Congo, citing anonymous sources in international aid organizations. The AP has not been able to independently verify the exposure of others.

U.S. health officials on Sunday indicated that the risk to Americans remains low.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued travel advisories urging Americans traveling in Congo and Uganda to avoid contact with individuals displaying symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, and rash. The CDC also announced it would implement appropriate measures for identifying individuals with any symptoms at ports of entry.

Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it causes is rare but severe and often fatal.

The Bundibugyo virus is a rare variant. Despite over 20 Ebola outbreaks occurring in Congo and Uganda since 1976, this marks only the third detection of the Bundibugyo virus.

The U.S. CDC indicates that it causes fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising.

Dr. Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health involved in past Ebola responses, stated that Congo has substantial experience managing outbreaks, but response efforts could be complicated by the rare strain.

The Bundibugyo virus was first detected during a 2007-2008 outbreak in Uganda’s Bundibugyo district, which infected 149 people and resulted in 37 deaths. The second detection occurred in 2012 in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, chief of the Africa CDC, expressed his concern to Sky News on Sunday, stating he is in “panic mode” due to a lack of medicines and vaccines, but some candidate treatments are expected in the coming weeks.

Ituri's Mongbwalu is located in remote eastern Congo, with poor road networks over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the capital, Kinshasa.

The region has long faced a humanitarian crisis and threats from armed groups that have killed dozens and displaced thousands in Ituri over the past year.

“No one really has a full understanding of how serious this crisis is,” said a Bunia-based U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to speak publicly on the subject.

Staff have been advised to work from home and avoid physical contact and crowded areas, the official noted, expressing concern about halting activities in a region reliant on humanitarian aid.

Ituri is home to over 273,000 displaced individuals, according to the U.N.

Rwanda closed its land border with Congo on Sunday. AP reporters attempted to cross the border but were informed it was closed except for individuals holding international flight tickets. Rwandan authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

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Pronczuk and McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Caitlin Kelly in Dakar, and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.

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2026-05-18T20:43:38Z