France has confirmed its first-ever case of Ebola on its territory after a doctor returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where authorities are battling a major outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever.
The French Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that the patient, a doctor who had travelled from Kinshasa, tested positive for the virus shortly after arriving in Paris.
According to the ministry, the doctor boarded a commercial flight while experiencing only mild symptoms, mainly headaches, but his condition slightly deteriorated during the journey.
He was immediately isolated and placed under medical care upon arrival, even before laboratory confirmation of the disease.
Authorities said the patient is currently in a stable condition and has a very low viral load, while efforts are ongoing to identify and monitor potential contacts.
The case marks the first confirmed Ebola infection detected in France and the first reported outside Africa during the current outbreak, which has primarily affected the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said the government was closely monitoring the situation, while health officials stressed that the risk of transmission remains low.
The international humanitarian organisation ALIMA (Alliance for International Medical Action) later confirmed that the patient is one of its doctors.
DRC Outbreak
DDM reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15 after a series of unexplained deaths in the conflict-hit eastern province of Ituri.
Official figures indicate that more than 1,000 Ebola cases have been recorded, with at least 267 deaths, representing a fatality rate of about 25 per cent.
Health experts, however, believe the actual scale of the outbreak may be significantly higher because many affected communities are located in remote and difficult-to-access areas.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.
Existing Ebola vaccines developed between 2018 and 2019 are effective only against the Zaire strain responsible for previous major outbreaks.
Previous International Case
In May, an American surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in the DRC was evacuated to Germany for treatment.
The surgeon, identified as Peter Stafford, was discharged from a Berlin hospital earlier this month after making a full recovery following 17 days of treatment, which included experimental therapies currently being tested against the Bundibugyo strain.
Despite the latest development, public health experts maintain that the likelihood of a wider international spread remains low due to the relatively limited transmissibility of the Ebola virus.
The French Health Ministry cited an assessment by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which stated that the risk of infection for European residents and travellers remains low, while the risk to the general population is considered very low.
