New Ebola Cases Reported in Liberia, Two Months After All Clear Given

An entire Liberian family was being treated at a special Ebola unit Friday after a 10-year-old boy tested positive for the virus, officials said.

The case represents a setback for Liberia, which has seen more than 10,600 cases and 4,808 Ebola deaths since it was first announced in March, 2014, according to United Nations World Health Organisation figures.

Liberia has been thrown into another round of battle to savage the return of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease just two months after World Health Origination (WHO) declared the country free of the virus.

“All six family members, as well as other high-risk contacts, are in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville”, Dahn said.

The teenager’s case appears to point to the persistence of the virus among survivors, which can result in occasional resurgence of the disease, said Dr Aylward, adding that flare-ups are expected to be less common and to end in 2016.

Along with the father and the eight-year-old brother, who tested positive, the boy’s mother and two other brothers – a two-month-old and a five-year-old – were taken to the Ebola treatment centre and are being tested. “All of the healthcare workers who came into contact with the patient have been notified”, she said.

“The child has no known history of contact with a survivor or having been at a funeral [where an Ebola victim was buried]”, said Aylward, referring to the fact that secretions from the corpses of those who died from the virus are highly contagious.

Heath officials are still investigating the origins of the new case.

A woman in Freetown, Sierra Leone, celebrates with others as the country is declared Ebola-free on November 7.

Liberia was first declared Ebola-free in May, but new cases later emerged. “C.D.C. will continue to assist on the front lines”.

The agency reported more than 11,300 dead out of nearly 29,000 cases since the epidemic erupted in December 2013, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.