New Ebola Case Confirmed in Sierra Leone

The World Health Organization has announced that Liberia is now free from Ebola virus, signaling the end of the outbreak that has caused devastation to West Africa for two years.

This was the first time all three nations that hosted the outbreak – Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – had all been Ebola-free at the same time.

The official said the woman “died at home” but did not say why she had been released from the hospital in Magburaka, the capital of the northern Tonkolili district. Goals are to assess how the Sierra Leone woman contracted her infection and to trace her contacts.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa – which left more than 11,300 dead and triggered a worldwide epidemic of fear and anxiety had officially ended. The vast majority of Ebola deaths have been concentrated in Liberia (4,809), Sierra Leone (3,955) and Guinea (2,536), according to recent statistics from the WHO. He called the announcement of Sierra Leone’s latest case on Friday “unfortunate timing”.

The organisation said all known chains of transmissions had been stopped but a “strong surveillance and response system was critical in the coming months”. Sierra Leone was declared free of the disease November 7, 2015, and Guinea followed suit December 29.

“While this is an important milestone and a very important step forward, we have to say that the job is still not done”, said Rick Brennan, WHO director of emergency risk assessment and humanitarian response, at a news conference in Geneva on Thursday. This is said to be especially true of the presence of the virus in men, in the semen of whose bodies the virus can remain for long periods of time. Liberia had been declared Ebola-free twice before Thursday.

The WHO declares Ebola transmission over when a country goes through two incubation periods – 21 days each – without a new case emerging.

More than 11,000 people in West Africa have died of Ebola since December 2013 (pdf, p. 2). 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. As such, heightened surveillance efforts and responsive measures are needed for the next few months.