Dr. Peter Stafford, who contracted Ebola while medically treating an Ebola-infected patient in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is steadily recovering. His wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and their four children have tested negative and remain asymptomatic.
Stafford, 39, serves with the missionary group Serge and formerly worked with Samaritan’s Purse’s post-residency program in Togo and the DRC. He is receiving medical treatment in Berlin, Germany, where he is under “superb care,” according to a Serge update.
Franklin Graham is calling Christians to pray for Stafford and his family as he recovers in Charité hospital.
“I would like to ask everyone to pray for Dr. Peter Stafford, the missionary physician who has been evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after testing positive for the Ebola virus,” Franklin posted on social media. “Please also pray for his wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and their four children. The Staffords now serve with Serge, but were part of our Samaritan’s Purse Post-Residency Program several years ago. I spoke with Rebekah by phone today and told her we would be praying for Peter and their family.”
Stafford has been serving as a medical doctor at Nyankunde Hospital since 2023. The hospital is located in Bunia, a city in eastern Congo.
He was flown to Berlin on May 19.
The Charité hospital reported that Stafford “is being cared for in the high-security area of the specialized isolation unit.”
“Because the course of the illness can change, he remains under close observation and is receiving treatment,” the hospital said.
“Before I was evacuated I was feeling really concerned I wasn’t going to make it,” Stafford said on May 21. “And now I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Dr. Scott Myhre, Serge’s area director for East and Central Africa, spoke to Stafford and received updates on his wellbeing.
“I was able to speak with Peter briefly by phone on the morning of May 21 and he reports he’s feeling better than he was yesterday and is beginning to eat small amounts of food,” Myhre said. “Peter is continuing to show the predictable sequence of Ebola signs and symptoms. He passed through the first days of nonspecific symptoms (fever, aches, fatigue), and has now passed into a phase with vomiting, diarrhea, and rash, with labs trending slightly in the right direction.”
Officials believe Stafford contracted the virus on May 9. He was performing surgery on a woman who was suffering from a fever and severe stomach pain. She later died from the illness. The Ebola outbreak had not yet been confirmed when Stafford operated on the woman, whose symptoms resembled Malaria. After the outbreak was declared, the woman was presumed to have had Ebola.
As of May 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there have been 906 suspected Ebola cases in the DRC, 105 confirmed cases, 223 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed deaths. In Uganda, there have been seven confirmed Ebola cases and one confirmed death.
Bundibugyo, the species of Ebola responsible for the 2026 outbreak, is rare. There are no vaccines to combat Bundibugyo and no therapeutics exist to treat it.
Another Serge medical missionary was evacuated to a hospital in Prague. Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, 46, serves at Centre Medical Evangelique Bunia Hospital, which is located in the same city in which the Staffords work. LaRochelle has remained asymptomatic.
“I want to thank God that my teammate Peter Stafford is recovering from Ebola—and that his wife, Rebekah, his children, and I have remained free of the infection thus far,” LaRochelle said. “Standing helpless as Peter worsened prior to his medical evacuation, I had a glimpse of the reality that my Congolese friends and colleagues are living constantly, and for which a medical evacuation is not an option.”
Rebekah, in a text message the next day, affirmed that their “heart grew for Congo over time” and “it is hard to imagine any other place home.”
Stafford is not the first medical doctor tied to Samaritan’s Purse who has contracted Ebola.
In 2014, Kent Brantly, a doctor serving with Samaritan’s Purse’s World Medical Mission, contracted Ebola in Liberia while treating Ebola-infected patients. He was the first American to be flown back to the U.S. for Ebola treatment, where he recovered.
More than 39 tons of essential medical supplies are being airlifted to the DRC and Uganda through Samaritan’s Purse’s 767 cargo plane.
Franklin Graham said in statement that Samaritan’s Purse will “do everything we can to help save lives. We want people to know that God loves them, and they are not alone.”
“As this deadly Ebola virus spreads so does people’s fear and uncertainty,” he said. “They are in desperate need of emergency medical relief and supplies to help prevent the spread of this outbreak. That’s why Samaritan’s Purse is airlifting supplies to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
