The first case of Ebola identified on French territory has been "cured" and discharged from the hospital" announced Health Minister Stéphanie Rist on Saturday, July 4, 2026, in a statement sent to AFP.
A patient "remained very mildly symptomatic"“
This humanitarian doctor, who arrived in France on June 23 from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), currently facing a major virus epidemic, " was discharged today from the healthcare facility where he was being treated" added the Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and Persons with Disabilities." After two tests PCR negative results, the patient is now cured "and was able to return home safely," she added.
This doctor, working for the humanitarian NGO Alima, had boarded a flight from Kinshasa without symptoms other than headaches, but his condition deteriorated slightly during the journey. He was isolated upon arrival at the airport in Paris and then transported to the hospital.isolation“.
“ Remained very mildly symptomatic", he was the subject of medical care and strict monitoring, in full compliance with health protocols"The minister also indicated, welcoming " the robustness of our surveillance, isolation and response system in the face of exceptional health risks“.
Five people who had been in contact with this patient during the flight had been identified and placed in home isolation for a period of 21 days.
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The French case was the first identified outside the African continent.
The French case was the first identified outside the African continent for this epidemic which also affects Uganda and involves a rare strain of the virus, known as Bundibugyo, against which there is no vaccine or specific treatment.
This was also the first time a case of Ebola, which manifests as a hemorrhagic fever that is very often fatal, had been diagnosed in France. In 2014, during a major epidemic in West Africa, two patients were admitted to France, but only after having been diagnosed abroad.
Public health experts widely believe that the risk of transmission of the epidemic remains low worldwide, due to the relatively low contagiousness of the Ebola virus.
In the DRC, the Ebola epidemic, which has claimed at least 452 lives according to the latest figures as of July 3, continues to spread with a recently confirmed case in Kisangani, the major city in the northeast located nearly 600 km from the epicenter of the crisis.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which triggered an international health alert, announced this week the start of a clinical trial to try to develop a treatment.
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