U.S. Medical Missionary Recovering After Contracting Ebola While Serving in Congo

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – U.S. medical missionary Dr. Peter Stafford and his family have been released from hospital isolation in Germany more than two weeks after Stafford contracted the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola while serving as a surgeon in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Stafford had been working with Serge, an international Christian missions organization, when he tested positive for Ebola amid a growing outbreak in eastern Congo. He was evacuated to Berlin’s Charité University Hospital, where he received antiviral therapy and supportive care in an isolation ward.

Health authorities lifted Stafford’s isolation order Saturday after he went 72 hours without symptoms or a positive Ebola test. His wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and four other family members were also released after completing a 21-day quarantine following their last high-risk exposure. None of them developed symptoms or tested positive.

In a statement shared by Serge, Rebekah Stafford thanked believers around the world for praying and said her husband had made “significant improvements” after his condition initially worsened rapidly.

“On behalf of our family, I would like to express our deep gratitude to God for preserving Peter’s life and to everyone who has prayed and continues to pray on our behalf,” she said.

She also remembered a Congolese doctor who helped stabilize her husband before evacuation, saying the physician confidently told Stafford that God would bring him back. The family said their hearts remain with Congolese doctors, nurses, and frontline medical workers who continue to risk their lives caring for the sick.

The outbreak in Congo has continued to spread, with Reuters reporting that confirmed cases had risen sharply in early June, including dozens of new infections in a single 24-hour period. The outbreak is concentrated mainly in Ituri province, with additional cases reported in North Kivu and South Kivu, and some cases detected across the border in Uganda.

The World Health Organization said the current outbreak involves Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rarer strain for which there is no licensed vaccine or approved treatment specific to that strain. WHO officials and African health leaders have announced a six-month, $518 million response plan aimed at strengthening detection, treatment, border screening, and regional preparedness.

Spiritual Status of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the most heavily Christian nations in Africa. Pew Research Center estimated that Christians made up about 96.3% of the population in 2020, while older Pew estimates placed Christianity at 95.8% in 2010. Over the past 25 years, Christianity in Congo has remained overwhelmingly strong, growing substantially in raw numbers as the nation’s population has expanded. Yet the country continues to suffer from war, militia violence, poverty, corruption, disease outbreaks, and persecution in some eastern regions. The Church remains a major spiritual and social force, but it is also ministering amid deep national trauma.

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