ATLANTA — An American doctor is now sick in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
Now, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is restricting entry for non-U.S. passport holders from parts of central Africa.
Channel 2’s Linda Stouffer learned that the CDC is restricting access for people without U.S. passports if they have been to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the last three weeks.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
The new order will be in effect for at least 30 days after an American doctor tested positive and was taken to Germany alongside another six high-risk exposures.
“With limitations in resources, interruptions in aid, for example, the U.S. AID, that leaves many of these people without the needed assistance and increases the risk of death from these infections,” said ABC News Medical Correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton.
Doctors say the Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person and does not spread through casual contact or air.
The World Health Organization calls this outbreak a public health emergency with more than 100 deaths and 300 suspected infections.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
“It still remains one of the deadliest forms of a viral infection that currently exists. That means one out of every three people who get this may die. And that comes down to the access that patients have when they get infected, the healthcare infrastructure that exists, and the ability to maintain this outbreak among those who are sick,” Dr. Sutton said.
There is no vaccine and no proven medication for this strain of Ebola.
©2026 Cox Media Group
