American Doctor With Ebola Evacuated to Germany as U.S. Limits Entry

An American doctor working with a missionary organization in eastern Congo has tested positive for Ebola and been evacuated to Germany for treatment, the CDC and the group, Serge, announced Monday, CBS News reported. The outbreak is the Bundibugyo-strain epidemic that the World Health Organization declared an international emergency on Sunday.

The physician was exposed during surgery at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia, where the doctor had worked since 2023, CBS reported. Serge executive director Matt Allison said the doctor is sick but “getting the best care available to him.” The doctor’s wife, also a physician with Serge, is being monitored and isolating with the couple’s four young children, and a third Serge physician is also isolating, CBS said. The CDC said six other Americans are expected to be moved out of the region to be monitored or treated.

Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, said Tuesday that at least 131 people are believed to have died in Congo, and Uganda has reported one death, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CBS reported. Congolese officials reported more than 500 suspected cases as of May 19, CBS said. The earlier toll, reported by PBS NewsHour on Monday, was at least 116 suspected deaths and more than 300 other cases.

The U.S. response is narrowing the border. The Trump administration restricted entry for people without U.S. passports who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the past three weeks, with a CDC order lasting 30 days, CBS reported. U.S. citizens, green-card holders and service members are exempt. The CDC is also enhancing screening and said it may adjust measures as new information arrives. The CDC says the immediate risk to the general public is low.

The medical picture is difficult. Bundibugyo causes illness with early symptoms that resemble other infections, such as fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, followed in later stages by vomiting, diarrhea, rash and, less often, bleeding, CBS reported. Based on the two previous outbreaks, WHO estimates the fatality rate at 30 to 50 percent, compared with up to 90 percent for the Zaire strain. Merck, which makes the approved Ebola vaccine Ervebo, said it is not approved for Bundibugyo and described the cross-protection data as “limited, not from humans and not from evaluation of ERVEBO.” CBS News’ Dr. Celine Gounder said nothing aimed at this strain is close to ready, and WHO says early supportive care such as rehydration can improve survival.

This is only the third known outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain, and the earlier two were far smaller: 149 cases and 37 deaths in Uganda in 2007, and 57 cases and 29 deaths in Congo in 2012, CBS reported. The first suspected case was a health worker in Bunia who developed symptoms on April 24 and died, CBS said.

Dr. Craig Spencer, a Brown University public health expert who survived Ebola in 2014, said Monday, “We have found ourselves weeks, maybe months behind when this first started spreading,” that “this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better,” PBS reported. CBS said the virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids.