Guinea declared free of Ebola

Matshidiso Moeti from the U.N. World Health Organization, commended Guinea’s “governments, communities and partners for their determination in confronting this epidemic” but warned the country needs to remain wary of further outbreaks of the virus.

Mariam Camara, with tears in her eyes, said the country lost some of its best to Ebola, including her mother and brother, among the more than 2,500 people who died in Guinea.

A major concert will be held on Tuesday at the People’s Palace in Conakry to celebrate the end of Ebola, which is expected to be attended by over 100,000 people.

It has been 42 days “since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease tested negative for the second time”, according to a press release from the WHO.

Liberia and Sierra Leone were both declared Ebola free earlier this year but Liberia has since seen new infections.

“Epidemics like Ebola and other things that we have had in the past, like SARS, also highlight a lot of goodwill across the planet to respond to these sorts of humanitarian disasters in the short term”.

The virus crossed borders in West Africa easily before the severity and extent of the outbreak was recognized.

The health organization also noted that the West African country would enter a 90-day period of heightened surveillance.

“The coming months will be absolutely critical”.

Nevertheless, concern remains that new cases could re-emerge even though all the original chains of person-to-person transmission have been broken and there are now no cases.

Among the challenges survivors have faced is that after recovering from Ebola virus disease and clearing the virus from their bloodstream, the virus may persist in the semen of some male survivors for as long as 9-12 months. A year ago, a mob in Guinea attacked a group of journalists and officials who were trying to notify residents about Ebola awareness.

“It’s cause for celebration, because people are day to day living in very tough conditions”, said Susan Michaels-Strasser, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Liberia.

“It highlights how important it is to develop vaccines for Ebola and malaria”, he said. Although the cases were reported in 10 countries, the outbreak mainly affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Strong recent growth has been curtailed in Guinea and while Liberia has resumed growth, Sierra Leone is facing a severe recession, according to the World Bank, which has mobilised $1.