One of three countries at the epicentre of the world’s worst recorded Ebola outbreak, along with Liberia and Sierra Leone, Guinea was declared free of active transmissions of the virus in December 2015. “Investigations are ongoing to identify the source of transmission and the line-listing of contacts”, the health ministry statement said.
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WHO on Friday reiterated that Ebola is no longer an worldwide health emergency, but said flare-ups, at decreasing frequency, are expected. Liberia was declared free from transmission in January.
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are now able to keep Ebola from spreading when outbreaks occur rarely. A resurgence of Ebola in Guinea has killed seven people in the last few weeks, but it is not known if the Liberian case is linked. Liberia was first declared free of the disease in May, but new cases emerged two times – forcing officials there to restart the clock each time.
Liberia’s flare-up is the country’s third since its initial outbreak was declared over in May 2015.
He said they are investigating how she got to Monrovia with three of her children, but there are strong indications that the woman came from Guinea, with no symptoms of Ebola, when the border was closed.
The new case involves a woman who was taken to a hospital in the capital Monrovia on Thursday after falling ill.
“Sick people and corpses from Guinea for burial in Sierra Leone should not be allowed during this time; meanwhile, government will continue to monitor the situation in Guinea closely and the general public is hereby encouraged to cooperate with the security and health personnel to keep Ebola in check”.
“The VSV-EBOV vaccine now being administered was found to be highly effective in preventing Ebola infection in a large trial conducted by Guinea’s Ministry of Health, WHO and partner agencies past year”, the organization explained in a statement.
Liberian Red Cross health workers wearing protective suits carry the body of a victim of the Ebola virus out of a garage in September 2014 in a district of Monrovia.
While several drugs and vaccines have been in development since the first Ebola outbreak in 1976, majority were tucked away on a shelf or in funding limbo when the virus began wreaking havoc across West Africa in 2013.
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More than 11,000 have died of the Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the last two years. In its advanced stages, Ebola can cause severe hemorrhaging.
