WHO Declares Liberia Ebola

The WHO first declared Liberia to be free of the epidemic in May 2015, but since then, the Ebola virus had been detected in the country in two separate occasions, with the latest case recorded in November of previous year. A United Nations report a year ago said West Africa could lose up to $15 billion from 2015 to 2017 because of the fallout from the Ebola crisis – including the effect on trade and tourism.

The female student was taken ill in the northern village of Bamoi Luma near the Guinean border and died soon after, with an initial swab testing positive for Ebola, a senior health ministry official told AFP.

Before the Ebola epidemic — which is believed to have started in rural Guinea in December 2013 — most of what was known about the disease was limited to studies of much smaller outbreaks in Congo and Uganda.

The Ebola outbreak highlighted just how little we actually know about the disease and how hard it can be to fully eradicate. Emails, documents and interviews obtained by the AP show World Health Organization and other responders failed to organize a strong response even after the signal was issued.

In its announcement, the World Health Organization warned that all three countries remain at high risk for additional outbreaks.

“We’ve been humbled by this virus multiple times during this outbreak, so I think we need to be cautious”, said Dr. William A. Fischer II, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina who has been working with Ebola survivors.

Single cases were discovered in the US and Nigeria, leading to global concerns that the outbreak could spread beyond West Africa.

This is the first reported case of the virus since the country was declared Ebola-free on November 7.

FILE- This is a Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 file photo of hearth workers as they carry the body of an old man from his house as he is suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in the Siah Town area on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia. The organization will continue to work with the three countries to screen for Ebola. According to Unicef, roughly 23,000 children in the three affected countries lost their parents or caregivers to the Ebola virus, while another 1,260 children, who were lucky enough to survive being infected with Ebola, will likely endure a lifetime of problems, both medical and personal.

“Today is a monumental day of achievement – the end of human-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus in the region and Liberia”.