UN Reports No New Transmissions of Ebola Within the Past Week

The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded in its latest report that no confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease were reported in the week to October. 4.

This is the first study conducted of the so-called prime-boost vaccine regimen in a West African country affected by the recent Ebola epidemic.

A British national, aid worker Pauline Cafferkey, was also infected with the virus but survived after being treated in the UK.

“Sierra Leone has seen no new cases in three weeks”.

“And critically I think we need to keep harping on about the messages not to wash dead bodies, not treat sick people and to call 117 if people are sick”.

Johnson & Johnson has begun a clinical trial of a two-shot Ebola vaccine in Sierra Leone, underlining its determination to push ahead with development, even as the epidemic fades out West Africa.

There were no new Ebola cases reported for the week that ended on Sunday, making it the first complete week with zero new cases since March 2014, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said here on Thursday. Over the same period, transmission of the virus has been geographically confined to several small areas in western Guinea and Sierra Leone, marking a transition to a distinct, third phase of the epidemic.

Liberia has been declared free of transmission for a second time since a resurgence in new cases last June.

In Guinea, more than 500 persons remain under follow-up, while in both Guinea and Sierra Leone a number of “high-risk contacts” linked to active and recently active chains of transmission “have been lost to follow-up” or no longer traceable. People who have come into contact with a confirmed Ebola case should be monitored daily and avoid global travel for 21 days.

But two people considered “high-risk” contacts have not been found.