Published on
21/05/2026 - 10:51 GMT+2
According to a Washington Post report, the United States initially refused to allow an American doctor infected with Ebola to return home. The newspaper cites five sources familiar with the matter. As a result, the doctor’s evacuation was delayed before he was eventually flown to Germany. The White House rejected this account, calling it “absolutely false.”
Dr Peter Stafford, a missionary doctor, had been working in Bunia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when he treated a patient with severe abdominal pain. The case was first believed to be an inflamed gallbladder, but that diagnosis was later ruled out. The patient died the next day, most likely from Ebola, and was buried before a test could be carried out.
Eight days later, Dr Stafford himself began to show non-specific symptoms, including fever, pain, shivering and extreme fatigue.
