France has confirmed its first domestic case of Ebola virus infection, involving a doctor who returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, currently experiencing a large outbreak.
On Wednesday, 24 Jun 2026 GMT+7, French authorities confirmed the country's first Ebola virus infection case. The patient is a doctor who recently returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), which is facing a severe Ebola outbreak.
The French Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that the doctor was immediately admitted to a specialized medical facility for treatment and is currently in stable condition.
The ministry emphasized that the risk to the general public is "very low" and added that officials are rapidly tracing individuals who may have had close contact with the doctor and have established a "special surveillance system" for relief workers returning from DR Congo.
This case marks the first confirmed Ebola patient in Europe, although last month an American doctor who tested positive in DR Congo was treated in a hospital in Germany.
DR Congo declared the Ebola outbreak in May, but experts believe the virus began spreading as early as mid-April.
So far, there have been more than 260 confirmed deaths from Ebola and over 1,000 confirmed infections.
Meanwhile, Uganda, a neighboring country of DR Congo, has also confirmed Ebola cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports 20 confirmed infections and 2 confirmed deaths there.
Healthcare workers are considered a particularly high-risk group for Ebola since the virus spreads through bodily fluids. Last week, the WHO reported that 75 healthcare workers in DR Congo have been infected with Ebola, with 17 fatalities among them.
The current outbreak involves the "Bundibugyo" strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no available vaccine.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and U.S. public health agencies agree that this Ebola outbreak has the potential to become one of the largest ever recorded.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, infections are concentrated in eastern provinces, including Ituri, South Kivu, and North Kivu. Ituri remains the main epicenter, accounting for over 90% of cases.
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Source:bbc