Liberia was declared free of the deadly Ebola virus for a second time on Thursday. The West African country is now in a 90-day period of heightened surveillance that is intended to prevent the disease from re-emerging, according to the World Health Organization said. Most of the 11,000 people who died between 2014 and earlier this year in West Africa were from Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The Ebola epidemic killed almost 4,000 Sierra Leoneans and left thousands of orphans.
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The death brought to an abrupt end the optimism sparked by the release from hospital of Sierra Leone’s last known Ebola patient last week in the central city of Makeni. Liberia was declared Ebola-free in May but a fresh cluster of cases appeared in late June and six additional cases were identified. That person tested negative for the disease on July 22. “Today is a day to celebrate but we should not forget what we have learned.As long as there are still cases in the sub-region, we are still not free”, he said. In fact, Liberia was declared Ebola – free in May, but new cases were reported in the subsequent month.
Scientists say sexual transmission is the most likely explanation for the resurgence in Liberia since the virus can live on in semen beyond the usual 21-day incubation period.
In this photo taken Tuesday, August 18, 2015, nurse Donnell Tholley, 25, holds his adopted son Donnell Junior at their apartment in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
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“Over 970 people are being monitored under quarantine as there is information that they had had some contact with the deceased woman who tested positive after her death”, the district Ebola response office said in a report on Friday.
