U.S. CITIZEN TESTS POSITIVE FOR EBOLA IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

A U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo has tested positive for Ebola during a fast-growing outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a July 10 statement. The CDC said it is supporting contact tracing and risk assessments with the person's employer, other U.S. federal agencies and authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The patient's identity, medical condition and organization have not been disclosed, and it is not yet clear whether the person will remain under treatment in Congo or be medically evacuated.

The Democratic Republic of Congo declared the outbreak on May 15. It involves the Bundibugyo strain, a rarer Ebola virus species for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, making the response more difficult than outbreaks involving strains for which vaccine tools already exist.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from the disease, or through contaminated materials. It is not an airborne respiratory virus, but it can spread rapidly in health-care, household and burial settings when protective measures fail.

The outbreak has grown quickly. The Associated Press reported that confirmed cases have reached 1,830, with 648 deaths. Case counts can change as suspected cases are tested, deaths are confirmed and surveillance improves.

Contact tracing is the central containment tool in an Ebola response. Health workers determine who had direct exposure to the patient, whether those contacts are at high risk, and whether any of them need monitoring, isolation or medical evaluation. In a case involving an international humanitarian worker, that process can extend across workplace contacts, clinical contacts, transport history and cross-border coordination. The CDC statement did not disclose the person's movements, the organization involved or the number of contacts being assessed.

The CDC has not announced that the patient is in the United States, and there is no reported evidence of community exposure inside the United States. If a medical evacuation is considered, such transfers are normally handled through specialized isolation and transport procedures. During earlier Ebola outbreaks, infected aid workers were sometimes evacuated for treatment under strict infection-control conditions.

Humanitarian workers often operate close to the highest-risk parts of an outbreak response, supporting treatment centres, logistics, community outreach, surveillance and aid delivery in areas where health systems are strained. An infection among a humanitarian worker can raise questions about protective equipment, exposure controls and local response capacity, though a single infection does not by itself establish a breakdown in the response.

Congo has dealt with multiple Ebola outbreaks, but each response is shaped by local conditions. Conflict, displacement, strained health services, distrust, difficult terrain and funding gaps can all slow containment. The immediate questions are whether the CDC, the patient's employer or Congolese authorities release more information about the patient's status, treatment location or possible medical evacuation, and whether Africa CDC or the World Health Organization revise the outbreak case count.

Fact-check date: 11 July 2026
Article type: News
Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters, Associated Press, CBS News, CNN