An American surgeon who contracted Ebola while operating on a patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been flown to Germany for treatment, accompanied by his wife and four children, who are being monitored for symptoms. Dr Peter Stafford, a missionary surgeon working at Nyankunde hospital in DRC's Ituri province, unknowingly performed abdominal surgery on the patient before the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola — a hemorrhagic fever virus for which no approved treatment or vaccine exists — was identified in the region. The World Health Organization has now recorded more than 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, and has declared the outbreak a public health emergency, warning that the situation is serious for neighbouring countries despite a low global pandemic risk.