Many Ebola survivors are now suffering from disabling side effects of the virus. The other countries were Guinea and Liberia, which has been declared Ebola-free.
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Pauline Cafferkey, the British nurse being treated for Ebola, has “deteriorated” and is “critically ill”, the Royal Free Hospital has said.
The Ebola virus may persist in a few men’s semen for nine months after they were initially infected, far longer than previously known, according to preliminary research out Wednesday. Traces of the deadly virus were found in the semen of 26 percent of men tested (11 out of 43 patients) between seven and nine months after their symptoms started and who had been treated for the virus.
Researchers will continue to test to find out how long the virus persists.
“Survivors who volunteered for this study are doing something good for themselves and their families and are continuing to contribute to the fight against Ebola and our knowledge about this disease”, said Yusuf Kabba, National President of the facebook.com/Sierra. Hands should be washed after any physical contact with semen. The agency recommends protected sex or abstinence. Maybe they are using condoms – we are providing condoms.
In the current West African outbreak, continued vigilance to identify, provide care for, contain and stop new cases, are key strategies on the road to achieving zero cases. If sexual transmission were common, there would be many more cases in those areas now.
The study was jointly conducted by the Sierra Leone ministry of health and sanitation, Sierra Leone ministry of defence, the World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Aware of the imminent publication, Sierra Leone launched a programme of regular screening for all male survivors from Ebola two weeks ago.
“What we do know is that if the virus is in someone’s semen, they can probably pass it sexually, and a survivor could spread the virus even after recovery”, Adalja said. “There was a great demand from survivors to know their status – we had no difficulty including survivors in the study”.
“It’s really not hard to take points that came out of… focus groups and go out and spit them out”. The testes are one place; so are the eyes, parts of the joints and the brain. Cafferkey’s family have claimed doctors “missed a big opportunity” to spot she had fallen ill with Ebola again.
Previous advice to survivors was to abstain from sex, or use a condom for three months, after which it was thought the virus would be out of the system. However, medics who worked during the epidemic say there have also been cases in West Africa. With more than 17,000 Ebola survivors, it’s possible that further cases of delayed transmission and late complications will occur.
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“This must be done in a way that prevents discrimination, and sociologists must work with health promotion teams and community leaders, as well as survivor groups, so that language is understandable and not offensive”.
