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. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Dr. LaRochelle is believed to have been exposed to Ebola through a second patient.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The director-general took an unprecedented step by declaring the outbreak a public health emergency himself, before an agency committee had met, The New York Times reported.
8. 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 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. The risk to the U.S. remains low, according to the CDC.
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