New Case Of Ebola Emerges In Sierra Leone

To help determine the source of the most recent Ebola case in Sierra Leone, health officials will need to trace the patient’s activities in the days before she became ill, Adalja said. Her contacts are being traced and certain areas will be quarantined, he said.

Besides safe burials, another key response step in the outbreak region has been to test for Ebola in all people who die as a means of identifying any unknown cases or transmission chains.

The story has been updated to correct that it had been at least two months, not two weeks, since Ebola transmission ended in Sierra Leone.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization announced an end to the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia, meaning all three countries at the epicenter of the West African outbreak were considered Ebola-free. A positive test for Ebola was confirmed only after her death, which occurred earlier in the week, raising concerns that she may have been in contact with others while contagious.

West Africa’s Ebola outbreak is not over, after all. However, just hours after the announcement, the health ministry in Sierra Leone confirmed the positive test for the virus in the north of the country, near the Guinean border.

“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. As well as screening for persistent virus, they will need medical and psychological care, and support to help them return to normal life in their families and communities, who will also need education and help to reduce stigma and minimize risk of Ebola virus transmission.

“We are now at a critical period in the #Ebola epidemic: move from managing cases & patients to managing the risk of new infections”. Guinea was declared Ebola-free toward the end of December.

The Sierra Leone government acted rapidly to respond to this new case.

World Health Organization says that flare-up cases, such as in Liberia, “are likely the result of the virus persisting in survivors even after recovery”.

Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free in November; since then, health officials have made similar declarations for Guinea and Liberia, the other two nations that saw thousands of people die from the disease. Given the fact that the outbreak infected almost 29,000 people and killed 11,315, the odds are good that cases will emerge after the 42 day period is passed.