France confirms Ebola virus in doctor who worked in Congo

A positive case of Ebola virus has been identified in France in a doctor travelling back from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the French Ministry of Health said Wednesday.
The individual, who has not been identified, returned from a humanitarian mission in one of the virus transmission zones in the DRC and was taken into care at a specialised facility in France.
The person is in stable condition, the ministry said.
The Congolese health ministry said on Wednesday there are 1,094 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 277 confirmed deaths.
The Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no vaccines or treatment, has been the worst ever in terms of case numbers in its first month.

Officials admit there could be far more cases they don’t know about and the peak of the outbreak, which was declared May 15, could still lie ahead.
All precautionary measures, including the patient’s isolation, were taken upon their arrival in France, the health ministry said, adding that their transfer to a hospital was carried out under secure conditions to prevent any risk of contamination.
“An in-depth epidemiological investigation is under way to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient,” the ministry said, adding that a regional health agency will closely monitor them during a 21-day home isolation.
The global risk “remains low” from the Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization chief said on Wednesday, after the France case was confirmed.
It was “a reminder of the risks faced by frontline responders”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva, stressing that the “risk to the rest of the world remains low”.