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Liberia confirms third Ebola case in new outbreak

The two men were “very stable” and walked to the ambulance that evacuated them from Nedowein, where Ebola was found on the teen’s corpse about seven weeks after Liberia was declared Ebola-free.

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Liberians were informed on public radio on Tuesday that a 17-year-old boy had become sick with Ebola and died in a village near Roberts global Airport, about an hour’s drive southeast of Monrovia.

Schaffner also said it’s clear that the Liberian government has learned from the horrendous outbreak that began a year ago that lead to more than 10,000 infections in Liberia.

MONROVIA Liberia confirmed a third Ebola case on Thursday, almost two months after it was declared Ebola free, and officials said they were investigating whether the disease had managed to lurk in animals before resurfacing. “These are at high risk”, said John Sumo, a member of the incident-management team.

The fight against Ebola took another devastating turn on Sunday with the news of an Ebola-related death near the Liberian capital Monrovia.

According to Odubanjo, we should learn from our neighbours, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are recording new cases, and as such put preventive measures checks in place. Residents claimed that the health workers were actually administering the Ebola virus, not a polio vaccine. “We must stay focused until we reach zero cases”. The bodies of people killed by Ebola are also highly infectious.

Under a heightened alert level, which dropped slightly after Nigeria successfully contained the virus last October, states will be required to report any suspected case to the federal health ministry. People who came into contact with the boy have been isolated, and at least one of those patients has tested positive.

Nyenswah said the national health system’s ability to “quickly detect the (new) case means our system is working and is able to deal with any situation”. Liberia’s government was slow to act in 2014 and the country lost more individuals than Sierra Leone and Guinea.

This is the only known case in Liberia for now, according to Liberia Ebola response chief Nyenswah.

She said the Health Ministry is not recommending closure of borders, but the process of surveillance at all entry points both land and air, adding, “The fight against the virus is not over, but we must not lose hope; and continue practicing appropriate behaviors to control the virus”.

Ben Neuman, a virologist and Ebola expert at Reading University, said Ebola survivors, who can carry a small bit of the live virus in their bodies for months after recovering, might be responsible for the new cases.

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Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom, US and Italy reported imported cases or import-related local transmission linked to the epidemic in West Africa.

Ebola crisis: Liberia's new outbreak spreads