Guinea authorities pinpointed one of the cases as occurring in Forecariah, western Guinea, and appearing to be associated with a previously established chain of infection. Last Friday, London’s Royal Free Hospital announced that it was treating Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish nurse who had served in Sierra Leone during this year’s West African outbreak, for what they termed “an unusual late complication” of Ebola.
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Ebola transmission is considered to be over once a locality has gone 42 days without a new case of the disease. This caused both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organisation to change their recommendations for convalescent patients regarding sexual contact until more definitive information is obtained about how long Ebola virus can persist in semen, researchers said. The other case is in Conakry, deemed as a new infection. The patient in Forecariah was cured and discharged.
Talking about the new cases, Harris said, “On the bumpy road we keep talking about, the high risk of recurrence, once again we are navigating a few bumps”. “This study provides further evidence that survivors need continued, substantial support for the next 6 to 12 months to meet these challenges and to ensure their partners are not exposed to potential virus”.
A vaccine against the Ebola virus, developed by Chinese scientists and being tested in Sierra Leone, has proved to be “safe, responsive with very few complaints or side effects”, an official at Sierra Leone’s health ministry has said.
Though these new cases are a setback for Guinea, progress has been made.
Holding promise for current Ebola treatment is a successful trial vaccine now employed to address every new case as well as their at-risk contacts. More than half of men, 65 percent, whose semen was tested four to six months after diagnosis were found to have Ebola present in their semen.
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But Harris said that the trial comes to an end in mid-November, potentially putting a question mark over the use of the vaccine beyond that date.
