New Ebola case emerges in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone had been declared free of the virus on November 7.

A woman’s body has tested positive for Ebola in Sierra Leone, an official said, the day after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak over in west Africa.

People pass a banner reading “STOP EBOLA” forming part of Sierra…

“The swab test on the victim after her death was done three times and all proved positive”, Langoba Kelly of Sierra Leone’s office of national security told reporters in Freetown, appealing for calm.

The new case confirmed Friday came hours after the World Health Organization gave the region an all-clear.

The organization warned that flare-ups were still possible. Guinea marked that day on November 29. Doctors have found Ebola can survive in some male survivors for up to nine months after they first get sick but arent sure if that means they might still be infectious, according to the new research published Wednesday.

Since December 2013, around 4,000 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone and 11,000 across West Africa.

As Camila reported for the Two-Way yesterday, Liberia “had previously been declared Ebola-free in May and in September past year”.

“A massive effort is under way to ensure robust prevention, surveillance and response capacity across all three countries by the end of March.”

Officials are now trying to trace any contacts the person who died may have had, in a desperate attempt to cut short a potential new chain of transmission.

“WHO stresses ongoing risk of flare-ups due to the re-emergence of the virus throughout 2016 due to persistence of the virus in the survivor population”, a spokesman said. The WHO said Thursday that Ebola can “in rare instances be transmitted to intimate partners”.