U.S. plans to move physicians exposed to rare Ebola virus to Germany

By Jaimy Lee

The government is also banning entry for people without U.S. passports who were recently in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan

A port health officer sanitizes the hands of a motorbike rider at the Busunga border crossing in Bundibugyo between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 18.

An American physician who is in Congo as part of a Christian mission has tested positive for a rare strain of Ebola virus in an outbreak that has caught global health officials off guard.

Peter Stafford was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has reported many cases of Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola virus. He was tested by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stafford is one of three medical missionaries with Serge - a nonprofit based in Jenkintown, Penn. - who were exposed to the virus. The other two physicians - Rebekah Stafford, who is Peter Stafford's wife, and Patrick LaRochelle - are both asymptomatic, according to Serge. They are all in quarantine. The Staffords have four young children in Congo with them.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the U.S. plans to transport all seven Americans to Germany.

The worrisome outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus has sickened at least 336 people and killed 88. So far, only 10 cases have been confirmed. Over the weekend, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern, only the ninth time it has done so in the last 20 years.

The outbreak is centered in Congo's Ituri Province, a conflict-heavy region where people often cross the border into Uganda and South Sudan.

Once the Americans arrive in Germany, the plan is to treat them with experimental monoclonal antibodies. There are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for this strain of Ebola, and researchers who study Bundibugyo virus say there has been little interest from federal agencies in funding their work. However, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) said Monday that its Food and Drug Administration-approved monoclonal antibody for the Zaire Ebola virus may work against the Bundibugyo strain.

"We are in discussions regarding next steps," a spokesperson for the drugmaker said said.

The CDC also said it's monitoring travelers arriving in the U.S. from Congo, South Sudan and Uganda. The U.S. will no longer allow entry for people without U.S. passports who visited any of those three countries during the last three weeks.

That decision has been met with criticism by infectious-disease experts. "Public-health policies that single out non-U.S. citizens won't prevent viruses from crossing our borders," Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement. "Diseases don't recognize passports."

-Jaimy Lee

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05-18-26 1540ET