'Cautiously optimistic': American doctor with Ebola hopes for recovery

Michael Loria, USA TODAY Thu, May 21, 2026 at 11:21 PM UTC

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An American physician who contracted Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on May 21 he is "cautiously optimistic" that he will recover from the deadly disease.

Dr. Peter Stafford, a 39-year-old surgeon stationed in the central African country, contracted the virus after treating patients in the DRC’s Ituri Province. The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the area was not widely known at the time. Stafford, 39, was evacuated to Germany for treatment after being diagnosed on May 17.

"Before I was evacuated I was feeling really concerned I wasn’t going to make it," Stafford said in a brief statement shared by Serge, an international Christian missionary group the physician served. "Now I’m cautiously optimistic."

According to the missionary organization, Stafford is critically ill but not acutely deteriorating.

"I was able to speak with Peter briefly by phone on the morning of May 21 and he reports he’s feeling better than he was yesterday and is beginning to eat small amounts of food," said Dr. Scott Myhre, Serge’s East and Central Africa director. He added that Stafford’s symptoms include "vomiting, diarrhea, and rash," but his lab results show he is "trending slightly in the right direction."

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Stafford, his wife Dr. Rebekah Stafford and their four children were transported with him to Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.

According to Serge, Stafford and his family have been moved into an isolation ward. He is separated from them by a window. His family remains asymptomatic, Serge said.

The update on the physician’s status comes at a point where health authorities suspect at least 134 people have been killed so far in connection with the outbreak, and as many as 600 have been infected.

Risk of contracting the disease in the United States remains low, according to health authorities. State Department officials said Americans who have been to DRC, South Sudan or Uganda in recent weeks have to return through Dulles International Airport for additional screening.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American doctor with Ebola says he’s 'cautiously optimistic'

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