American doctor tests positive in Ebola outbreak that spurred global health emergency

An American doctor is among the hundreds of people who have contracted the rare virus linked to an Ebola outbreak that led the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency over the weekend.

Big picture view:

The death toll from the outbreak has reached triple digits as health officials report more than 118 people have died in Congo, where the vast majority of cases have been, and Uganda, which has had one death and one suspected case so far. 

The American doctor, Dr. Peter Stafford, was treating patients at a hospital when he started showing signs of the virus, according to Serge, the organization where he works. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not respond to an Associated Press follow-up question about his condition. 

The CDC noted that Stafford and six other Americans had been taken to Germany for monitoring.

What's next:

The CDC has implemented a 30-day ban on all foreign nationals who have visited Congo, Uganda, or Sudan over the past three weeks. The agency will also take additional steps to try to identify Ebola at U.S. ports of entry.

Why you should care:

Ebola is highly contagious, often spread through bodily fluids like vomit, blood, or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but the symptoms are severe and often fatal.

WHO noted the outbreak should not be considered a pandemic, like COVID-19 was at that time. It has advised against closing international borders.

Dig deeper:

This is the third time this particular variant of the Ebola disease, Bundibugyo, has been detected, despite the 20 outbreaks that have happened in the two countries, and this instance has been blamed for more deaths than the other two combined. 

Nearly 150 people were infected in a 2007-2008 outbreak in Uganda that killed 37 people, while a 2012 outbreak in Congo infected 57 people and caused 29 deaths.