The virus has claimed the lives of over 11,000 people, according to World Health Organization estimates.
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This is the first reported case of the virus since the country was declared Ebola-free on November 7. Aside from the ravages of the disease, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are facing massive economic challenges due to their virtual paralysis during the peak of the epidemic.
The country was declared free of the virus late past year, and the region as a whole cleared when Liberia was pronounced Ebola-free on Thursday. “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.
A country is declared Ebola-free 42 days after the recovery or death of the final patient and if there are no new infections. The ministry of health is still carrying out Ebola tests on dead bodies before burial, and remains on the lookout for any suspicious cases.
Thursday, WHO director Rick Brennan explained the progress in fighting the deadly disease.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of people who are sick or bodies of the dead. He had travelled there from Kambia, close to the border with Guinea. Cases also popped up in Mali, Senegal and Nigeria though transmission chains there were quickly shut down. It is not clear whether or not the boy who died past before or after the clearance, but what is certain is that it was Ebola that killed him. It has an extremely high mortality rate, around 40 per cent.
“So much was needed and so much was accomplished by national authorities, heroic health workers, civil society, local and worldwide organizations and generous partners”.
Leadership Newspapers, reports that Dr Margaret Chan, the WHO Director-General, in a statement said “But our work is not done and vigilance is necessary to prevent new outbreaks”.
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“The rapid cessation of the flare-up is a concrete demonstration of the government’s strengthened capacity to manage disease outbreaks”.
