Guinea Is Ebola-Free After 2 Years, 2500 Deaths

The World Health Organization declared the country Ebola-free on Tuesday after it went 42 days-the amount of time in two incubation cycles for the disease-without any reports of new infections, notes the news outlet.

“This is the first time that all three countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – have stopped the original chains of transmission that were responsible for starting this devastating outbreak two years ago”, World Health Organization regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement.

A World Health Organisation representative, Mohamed Belhocine, says the girl represents the demise of Ebola in Guinea.

The deadly virus has killed 2,536 people in Guinea since the outbreak began in December of 2013 in Gueckedou, a southern town near the borders of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Around 11,300 people died out of nearly 29,000 recorded cases, according to a World Health Organization tally that many experts believe greatly understates the real impact of the outbreak. Guinea now enters a 90-day period of heightened surveillance to ensure that any new cases are identified quickly before they can spread to other people.

Sierra Leone officially ended its epidemic in November, leaving only Liberia. But a new cluster of cases popped up in June, killing two more people.

More than 15,000 survivors also faced health issues linked to the virus.

“My colleagues and I at the World Bank Group congratulate the government and people of Guinea on reaching this important milestone”.

The West African nation will hold a celebration today, overseen by President Alpha Conde and including testimonies by Ebola survivors.

But Liberia is predicted to be declared virus-free in January.

Health workers wearing protective gear dispose of contaminated materials at the Nongo ebola treatment centre in Conakry, Guinea, on August 21, 2015. And in October, the CDC reported that some male survivors in Sierra Leone produced semen samples with evidence of Ebola for nine months after their illness began.

“The coming months will be absolutely critical”, said Dr Bruce Aylward from the WHO’s Ebola response team.

No scientist likes to say something is 100 percent effective, but Dr. John-Arne Røttingen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said, “Based on the number of individuals and the number of cases that we have seen, there is 100 percent protection in those vaccinated” against Ebola. “We hope that all the dead and the victims of this disease will be sacrifices to the Guinean nation so that no other epidemic touches us”, said survivor Ibrahima Sow. “This is the period when the countries need to be sure that they are fully prepared to prevent, detect and respond to any new cases”.

The support will be essential to help the three countries maintain their capacity to respond to any flare-ups of Ebola while they also focus on rebuilding their health sectors and restart public health programs, particularly in maternal and child health.