A US national who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo was discharged from a German hospital on Saturday after recovering from the infection following 17 days of medical care, the clinic said.

The Charite public hospital in Berlin said the man – who had been working as a surgeon for a Christian missionary group in the DRC – and his five family members, who had all been in quarantine, were in "good health" and permitted to leave.

The hospital published photos of the man, previously identified in reports as Dr Peter Stafford, 39.

Stafford was said to have operated on a patient with Ebola in eastern DRC before the outbreak was officially declared on May 15th.

The Bundibugyo strain in the latest Ebola epidemic has no approved vaccines or treatments.