Ebola patient discharged from Berlin's Charité – treatment successful after around two weeks

Therapy and Course of Illness

According to the treating team, the patient is now doing well again. The responsible health authority lifted the isolation order at noon, following international standard criteria. No virus had been detected in the patient since May 30.

Leif Erik Sander, Director of the Clinic for Infectiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Charité, spoke of a significant therapeutic success. "We are very pleased with the successful course of treatment and consider this a significant therapeutic success," Sander said. The Charité's special isolation unit had "once again proven to be an indispensable building block in managing highly pathogenic infections."

Voices from the Charité

The patient himself expressed his gratitude for the care received: "My gratitude cannot be adequately described in words. (...) Our thoughts are also with the people in Congo who do not have the opportunity to receive such care." He had received first-class treatment, "including experimental therapies that are currently being tested for the treatment of this type of virus."

During his stay, the patient's wife and his four children also came to Berlin. According to the clinic, they were classified as high-risk contacts, but showed no symptoms and were quarantined in a separate area of the ward. After the end of the isolation measures, they were also able to leave the facility.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, there was no danger to the public or other patients at any time. The treatment took place in a closed and protected unit on the Virchow Klinikum campus, which is separate from regular hospital operations. Such special isolation units are specialized in the care of patients with highly dangerous pathogens.

Outbreak in Central Africa

Ebola is a highly contagious, life-threatening disease transmitted through body contact and contact with bodily fluids. The current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has, according to Africa CDC, 381 confirmed cases and 62 deaths. The WHO assumes a high number of unreported cases. In neighboring Uganda, 16 confirmed cases and one death have been registered.

The WHO also points out that the outbreak in Congo and Uganda is far from being under control. So far, aid workers on the ground have only been able to identify 45 percent of all contact persons of Ebola-infected individuals. However, according to WHO data, at least 90 percent of contact persons must be identified to stop the spread.

The outbreak in eastern Congo from 2018 to 2020 was the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak recorded to date, with around 2,300 deaths. According to WHO data, more than 11,000 people died in the epidemic in West Africa in 2014 and 2015. The experiences from these missions were incorporated into the treatment protocols, according to which the now discharged patient in Berlin was also treated.