US issues travel alert amid Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The US State Department issued a Level 4 Alert for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Uganda, urging Americans not to travel to any of these countries for any reason, given the Ebola outbreak. For Rwanda, the department issued a Level 3 alert asking Americans to reconsider travel.
The travel alerts are in response to the recent Ebola outbreak announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.“Medical services in South Sudan are extremely limited. Adequate medical treatment, as well as access to routine emergency procedures, is often unavailable, and even minor health problems may require medical evacuation. All medical services, including medical evacuation, are at your own expense. If you purchase additional medical insurance, be sure to keep records of all medical services paid for and provided,” the US department wrote in the South Sudan advisory.Ebola is a rare, severe, and often fatal hemorrhagic fever disease that is transmitted through direct contact with infected people or their bodily fluids.Dr. Peter Stafford, an American physician, tested positive for Ebola while he and his wife, Dr. Rebecca Stafford, were treating patients during an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The couple’s four children are also being monitored for symptoms. The couple moved to Africa in 2019.As of Tuesday, there were 131 deaths linked to the current outbreak.
The American doctor is receiving treatment in a German hospital at the request of the American government. The German Federal Ministry of Health said: “Arrangements are currently being made for the patient’s admission and treatment in Germany.” “For the management and care of patients suffering from diseases caused by highly infectious pathogens, there is a national network of experts in Germany,” the ministry said.The CDC issued a new order Monday barring foreign travelers from entering the United States if they have visited a country affected by the outbreak in the past 21 days, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan.The agency cited Section 42, a law that temporarily prohibits noncitizens from coming to the United States for public health reasons.President Donald Trump said Monday he was “concerned” about the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but added that he believed it had not spread to the United States.
