The seven Americans exposed in the Democratic Republic of Congo Ebola outbreak have been identified, and the World Health Organization is responding to criticism about its response.
Here are the most recent updates related to the Ebola outbreak:
1. WHO reported there have now been 600 suspected cases of Ebola and 139 suspected deaths, a steep increase from the 10 confirmed cases, 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths the CDC reported on May 18. There have also been deaths among healthcare workers.
“We expect those numbers to keep increasing, given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected,” a May 20 WHO news release said. The outbreak is thought to have begun two months ago. The risk to the U.S. remains low, according to the CDC.
2. WHO has approved an additional $3.4 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergency to support its response, bringing the total to $3.9 million.
3. The U.S. and Britain are shipping an experimental vaccine for different types of Ebola to Congo. The vaccine was developed by researchers at Oxford, NPR reported.
“We will administer the vaccine and see who develops the disease,” Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a virus expert at the National Institute of Biomedical Research told NPR.
4. Peter Stafford, MD, a 39-year-old general surgeon who tested positive for Ebola, is still the only reported American with symptoms. The other six Americans were identified as Rebekah Stafford, MD, his 38-year-old wife, their four children and 46-year-old Patrick LaRochelle, MD, NBC News reported May 19.
5. On May 19, all seven Americans were transported to Germany. Dr. Peter Stafford is now receiving Ebola-specific care at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital, Serge, an international Christian missions organization, reported May 20. Dr. Rebekah Stafford and their children are also going to Germany, though the exact facility has not been announced. Dr. LaRochelle is being taken to Prague’s Bulovka Hospital. All other Serge workers with potential exposure have been evaluated.
6. Dr. Peter Stafford was exposed to Ebola after operating on a 33-year-old patient with severe abdominal pain. The physicians believed the patient had a gallbladder infection. The gallbladder was normal, but the patient died the next day after surgery. Days later, they realized the patient most likely died of Ebola, but could not test him as he was already buried. Dr. Peter Stafford developed symptoms over the weekend and tested positive for Ebola on May 17. Dr. Rebekah Stafford also treated the same patient, according to NBC News. Dr. LaRochelle is believed to have been exposed to Ebola through a second patient.
7. The Trump administration is reportedly reluctant to bring Dr. Peter Stafford back to the U.S., five people familiar with the Ebola response told The Washington Post. When U.S. officials learned of Dr. Peter Stafford’s positive test, the CDC and Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response advocated for him to be evacuated to one of the U.S. hospital’s biocontainment units. However, a back-and-forth discussion among leaders delayed his treatment because “they would not allow him to be transported to the United States,” one individual familiar with the matter told the Post.
However, a White House spokesperson told the Post that was false and “the Trump administration’s top and only concern is ensuring the health and safety of American citizens. The Charite Hospital of Germany is internationally recognized as one of the best facilities in the world for the treatment and containment of viral diseases like Ebola, on par with leading facilities here in the United States.”
The spokesperson said President Trump has ensured Americans exposed to deadly and contagious disease are evacuated to the U.S., such as diplomats from China at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and Americans exposed to hantavirus. The spokesperson added, “The idea that the White House was concerned that bringing a sick American back home to receive the best standard of care would somehow be poor optics is not only false, but nonsensical.”
8. The origins of this Ebola outbreak are still being investigated, but WHO experts said the outbreak probably began months ago, CBS News reported. This is because local officials had equipment that tested only for the most common species of Ebola — Zaire — not the Bundibugyo species responsible for this outbreak. This led to early tests resulting in negative readings. Over the weekend, WHO supplied local authorities with diagnostic kits capable of identifying Bundibugyo, The New York Times reported.
9. The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, the second-highest level of alarm under International Health Regulations. WHO’s emergency committee said the outbreak does not currently meet the pandemic emergency threshold.
“WHO assesses the risk of the epidemic as high at the national and regional levels, and low at the global level,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said. However, he said he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic” due to emerging cases in urban areas, death of healthcare workers and significant population movement, NPR reported.
The director-general took an unprecedented step by declaring the outbreak a public health emergency himself, before an agency committee had met.
10. The WHO is defending its response to the Ebola outbreak after a French publication quoted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying the WHO was late to identify the outbreak. The The New York Times could not confirm that Mr. Rubio made the remarks as quoted. However, Dr. Tedros responded to the criticism, saying it reflected a “lack of understanding” about how the agency functions.
“We don’t replace the country’s work, we only support them,” he said.
11. In about the past year, the U.S. terminated its funding to the WHO, cutting its 2026-27 budget by $500 million; shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which played a major role in containing previous outbreaks; and cut funding to the CDC.
These actions “have resulted in the fundamental weakening of the WHO for surveillance, staffing, logistics, laboratory support and rapid response coordination across multiple countries,” Peter Chin-Hong, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told the Times.
12. On May 19, the State Department said it would fund up to 50 treatment clinics and cover associated front-line costs in Congo and Uganda. The clinics will provide emergency Ebola screening, triage and isolation capacity.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.