The most recent outbreak of the Ebola virus in Liberia is over, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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The Ebola outbreak in Africa, responsible for more than 11,300 deaths is over, the United Nations health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), officially announced on Thursday. “That’s because there is still ongoing risk of re-emergence of the disease because of persistence of the virus in a proportion of survivors”.
Chan explained that the next three months after the declaration is the most critical for Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three West African countries that were hardest hit by the disease. A massive contact-tracing initiative launched by the Health Ministry identified 152 contacts – 25 of whom were healthcare personnel, all of whom were later declared Ebola-free after 21days of observation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday welcomed the announcement by the World Health Organisation marking the end of Ebola transmission in Liberia.
“But given the tenacity of the Ebola virus, there is a real risk of additional flare-ups”, WHO Representative Dr. Alex Gasasira read in a statement.
Liberia was first declared free of the hemorrhagic fever on May 9, 2015 only for a teenage boy to be tested positive of the virus in late June of that year. Any risk diminishes over time, as survivors’ immune systems clear out the virus.
From a Guinean infant who was the first victim the epidemic quickly spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, notching up more deaths than all other Ebola outbreaks combined.
Liberia has been declared Ebola-free two times in 2015.
Close to 4,000 people have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, and 11,000 people across the region, since December 2013.
While the USA did not experience an Ebola outbreak, a man who’d been infected overseas was diagnosed with Ebola while in Texas, causing concern among many Americans. The WHO says it will continue to work with governments on preventing transmission and responding to outbreaks.
And while celebrations are taking place across the world now that the outbreak is over, concerns remain that new cases could emerge. Male survivors have to be particularly careful as the virus can be present in semen for up to one year following infection.
The European Union which, combined with individual contributions from its member states, mobilised nearly two billion euros (HK$17 billion) for the Ebola response, said it would shift its focus from emergency to development.
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“Throughout the epidemic, I witnessed how communities were ripped apart”, Hilde de Clerck, a Doctors Without Borders epidemiologist who worked in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, said in a news release.
