Berlin's Charité hospital hailed the treatment as a “significant therapeutic success” as the outbreak spreads in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Published June 6, 2026
An American doctor who fell ill with Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recovered after more than two weeks of treatment in Germany, according to the hospital that admitted him.
Berlin's Charité public hospital said the man, identified in the media as Peter Stafford, 39, was in “good health” and was cleared to leave quarantine on Saturday.
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Stafford, who worked as a surgeon for a Christian missionary group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was admitted on May 20 after a test established he had the rare Bundibugyo virus, the strain of Ebola identified in the outbreak in east and central Africa. He is believed to have contracted the virus while operating on an Ebola patient in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, before the outbreak was officially declared on May 15.
Stafford was flown from Uganda to Berlin on a special plane and taken to the Charité hospital under strict security precautions.
His wife and four children, who had no symptoms but were initially classified as “high-risk contacts,” arrived in Berlin shortly after and were quarantined in a separate part of the ward. Their isolation restrictions were also lifted on Saturday.
While three vaccines are being investigated and their trials will be accelerated, there is still no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
Stafford said he received care that included “experimental therapies that are currently being tested for this type of virus,” according to a statement from the hospital.
He thanked the hospital and staff, saying “words cannot adequately express my gratitude,” but added that “our thoughts remain with the people in the Congo who do not have access to such care.”
Leif Erik Sander, director of the hospital's Department of Infectious Diseases and Intensive Care Medicine, called the patient's recovery a “significant therapeutic success.”
Cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo rise to 488
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the new Ebola outbreak, which began in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and spread to neighboring Uganda, is far from under control.
On Saturday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced that its total number of Ebola cases had risen to 488 from the 452 cases reported days earlier, including 86 deaths.
Uganda has confirmed 19 cases and two deaths.
Uganda has largely closed its western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in an effort to curb cross-border contagion, frustrating traders who rely on border crossings to do business.
The WHO has declared an international public health emergency over the outbreak, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned could grow into the largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded, rivaling the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.
