Ebola transmission stamped out in West Africa

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared Liberia to be free of Ebola, marking the first time in the two years all three West African countries hit by the tragic epidemic have seen no new cases in 42 days.

Of the 28,637 people infected by Ebola in the more than two years since the outbreak started, 4,767 were children.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning stating that the deadly Ebola virus might return to Africa.

The WHO first declared Liberia to be free of the epidemic in May 2015, but since then, the Ebola virus had been detected in the country in two separate occasions, with the latest case recorded in November of past year.

‘That’s because there is still ongoing risk of re-emergence of the disease because of persistence of the virus in a proportion of survivors’.

Thursday’s declaration comes because it is 42 days since Liberia’s last Ebola patient tested negative.

He warned that the virus may persist in some of the body fluids of small number of recovered individuals for prolong periods and may be transmitted through intimate contact, including through unprotected sex.

Scientists are learning more about the long-term effects of Ebola and also about the longevity of the virus in survivors.

World Health Organization chief, Margaret Chan believes the landmark achievement by the West African region is a contributory effort.

She said, “We have made tremendous strides in defeating the largest, longest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history”.

“We are happy to hear that Liberia is once more Ebola-free”.

But in a statement released in Geneva, Chan added that “our work is not done, and vigilance is needed to prevent new outbreaks”. It devastated families, communities and the economic systems of all three countries. The virus has claimed the lives of over 11,000 people, according to World Health Organization estimates.

Although the Ebola outbreak has been officially declared over, it’s important to remember that the toll the virus has taken on the population of these countries is not.

Despite the valiant efforts of local health workers, global health authorities worry that the countries worst affected by Ebola are not sufficiently equipped to contend with future outbreaks – especially as emergency response systems are shut down and foreign partners scale back their operations.

Joanne Liu, MD, MSF’s worldwide president, said “Today is a day of celebration and relief that this outbreak is finally over”. This Ebola response was not limited by lack of worldwide means but by a lack of political will to rapidly deploy assistance to help communities.