Aside from Sierra Leone, there were also fresh cases of Ebola in Liberia after being declared Ebola-free in May. However, he said further tests were being carried out in Makeni, the main town in the Northern Province, and in the capital Freetown. Harris said, “It’s a step back and a disappointment, but it wasn’t a surprise as it’s near the border with Guinea“.
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Huffington Post reports that officials are unsure whether the woman died in Kambia before or after the countdown to the country being Ebola-free began.
Samples from a 67-year-old woman’s corpse tested positive for Ebola, WHO technical coordinator Margarette Lamunu said.
“We are normally afraid because Kambia went 50 days with out a approved Ebola circumstance, urging the potential for a miscalculation”, Kargbo said.
Sierra Leone released what had been its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital on Monday and began a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus.
If this new case is confirmed, then efforts to finish the 18-month lengthy regional epidemic can be put to waste.
“We should not despair as we have been expecting this”, said OB Sisay, director of the National Ebola Response Center for Sierra Leone.
Scientists believe that the most probable explanation for the recurrence of the virus in Liberia is through sexual transmission because the virus can continue to live on in the semen longer than the normal 21-day incubation period. “We have to keep targeted and keep our self-discipline”.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has killed almost 4,000 people in Sierra Leone and more than 11,300 overall.
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The event, according to an Information Ministry source, was organized by the worldwide Telecommunications Union and supported by the governments of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea; three countries in the West African sub-region that have been ravaged by the disease.
