Berlin, Germany - Germany is preparing to admit and treat a US doctor who contracted Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the current deadly outbreak, the German health ministry told AFP on Tuesday.

The patient was named as medical missionary Dr. Peter Stafford, who lives in DRC with his wife Rebekah, also a doctor, and their four young children, by the Christian missionary organization Serge.

"US authorities have requested assistance from the German government in treating a US citizen who contracted Ebola in Congo," a German health ministry spokesperson said.

"Preparations are currently underway to admit and treat the patient in Germany," the spokesperson added, without saying where and when the patient would be treated.

World Pentagon independent watchdog probes strikes on boats off Latin America

"In Germany, there is a nationwide network of experts for the management and care of patients with diseases caused by highly pathogenic agents."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said Monday that the American had contracted the virus following exposure related "to their work" in DRC and had tested positive late Sunday.

Missions group Serge said Stafford was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde hospital, where he had worked since 2023.

The group said it was "grateful for international cooperation to safely care for" the family of six and another doctor who had been treating Ebola patients, Patrick LaRochelle.

It said the doctors and the family would be treated "in a location where they can undergo continued risk monitoring and receive specialized medical care."

China Beijing urges US to work with China to promote AI governance

The German ministry did not say whether LaRochelle and Stafford's wife and family, who had shown no symptoms, would also be flown to Germany.

The toll from the Ebola outbreak in DRC, which the World Health Organization has declared an international health emergency, has risen to an estimated 131 deaths from 513 suspected cases, Congolese health minister Samuel Roger Kamba said on Tuesday.

The outbreak's epicenter is in the northeastern Ituri province on the border with Uganda and South Sudan. The area's status as a gold-mining hub leads to people regularly crisscrossing the region.

No vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola behind the latest outbreak of the disease, which has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa in the past half century.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday he was "deeply concerned" by the outbreak of the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever.