Liberia declared Ebola-free, signalling end to West African epidemic

This “monumental achievement”, says Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization, marks the first time since the Ebola outbreak started two years ago, that the three countries were all Ebola-free.

“We are now at a critical period in the Ebola epidemic as we move from managing cases and patients to managing the residual risk of new infections”, said Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) special representative for the Ebola response, in the announcement.

The immediate threat stems from persistence of the virus in body fluids, notably in the semen of male survivors, up to a year after they are free of the disease and show no symptoms, said Rick Brennan, the WHO’s director of emergency risk management, in Geneva.

Liberia previously stopped the transmission of Ebola in May, 2015, but the disease flared up twice since then.

Liberia was the last affected country to get the all-clear with no cases of Ebola for 42 days.

Partners in Health (PIH), an aid group that saw some of its health workers sickened in the outbreak, said on its Twitter stream today that its thoughts were with the Ebola survivors and that as it celebrated the outbreak’s end, it was committed to strengthening health systems in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

“The end of Ebola transmission in West Africa is testament to what we can achieve when multilateralism works as it should, bringing the worldwide community to work alongside national governments in caring for their people”, he told a General Assembly briefing on Wednesday. But after receiving necessary care, both recovered and were released from the ETU on December 3rd, as more than 165 contacts were identified and closely monitored but no new infections were detected.

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

“We could have a recurrence if we don’t do those things that we need to do”, said Follay Gallah, an ambulance driver who contracted the disease in 2014.

She said, “We have made tremendous strides in defeating the largest, longest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history”. It is likely more cases will be found and the rhetoric from leaders indicates that precautions are being taken to ensure the virus does not spread.

Health officials in Sierra Leone have confirmed a death that occurred earlier this week, was due to Ebola, global media report. The disease wrought devastation to families, communities and the health and economic systems of all three countries.