An American citizen who caught the Ebola virus has arrived in Germany to get special medical care. The health ministry in Berlin shared that the patient landed in Frankfurt during the night and was taken straight to the city’s university hospital.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, explained on social media that the patient is a charity worker. The worker had been helping people in Bunia, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the virus is spreading the fastest. The WHO had been checking on him closely before he was safely moved to Germany to continue his recovery.
The DRC declared this latest Ebola outbreak in mid-May. It is caused by a specific type of the virus known as the Bundibugyo strain. Right now, there is no vaccine or cure for this particular type. The WHO reports that this outbreak has already caused more than 1,900 cases and over 700 deaths.
German health officials have reassured everyone that the patient does not put the local public or other hospital patients in danger. They emphasised that the chance of the virus spreading inside Germany is extremely low.
Officials added that the United States asked Germany for help because German doctors have a lot of experience treating Ebola. Also, flying from the DRC to Germany takes much less time than flying all the way back to America, which is safer for a sick patient.
This is the second American Ebola patient to be treated in Germany recently. At the end of May, another US citizen was kept in a safe zone at a hospital in Berlin. That patient successfully recovered after two weeks of treatment.
