FRANKFURT / SEOUL — Another American citizen infected with the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been medically evacuated to Germany for specialized treatment, rather than being returned to the United States.
According to reports from the dpa news agency and German health officials on Monday (local time), a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Health confirmed that the patient arrived at Frankfurt Airport overnight. The individual was immediately transported under strict containment protocols to a specialized isolation ward at the Frankfurt University Hospital.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had previously confirmed that the American citizen contracted the virus while working with a humanitarian aid organization in the DRC.
This marks the second time in recent months that a Western nation has taken in an American Ebola patient. Previously, on May 20, Peter Stafford, an American medical missionary who contracted Ebola in the DRC, was evacuated to the Charité University Hospital in Berlin. Stafford successfully recovered and was discharged approximately two weeks later.
At the time of the first incident, U.S. media outlets reported that the White House had actively opposed repatriating the patient to the U.S. mainland, prompting the diplomatic arrangement to route the patient to Germany instead.
Addressing questions regarding the relocation, the German Ministry of Health stated that the U.S. government formally requested assistance. German officials emphasized that the decision was based on Germany's world-class medical expertise in handling highly infectious diseases, its top-tier isolation facilities, and its geographical proximity to the African continent compared to the United States.
Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to deteriorate rapidly. The DRC health ministry released a report declaring that the number of confirmed Ebola cases has surged to 1,873 across five provinces, with the death toll rising to 672.
According to the official report, the virus is no longer confined to the initial outbreak epicenters of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. New confirmed cases have now been detected in neighboring Tshopo and Haut-Uele provinces, raising fears among international health organizations that the outbreak is entering a dangerous phase of wider regional transmission.
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