Liberia has entreated survivors of the deadly Ebola disease to extend a cautionary period of abstinence or protected sex beyond the three-month mark already advised following recovery. A new case resulting in the patient’s death has sparked fears that the disease may remain transmittable through sexual contact for longer than previously suspected.
The patient, a 44-year-old woman, died on Friday. Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, the leader of Liberia’s Ebola response, said that there were signs pointing towards sexual activity as the method of transmission. Research has discovered traces of Ebola in the semen of some survivors up to 82 days after the onset of symptoms, but now researchers think that recovered patients could potentially carry remnants of the disease for much longer.
So far, no scientific proof that these traces are infectious has been unearthed. However, as a precaution, the World Health Organization strongly advises Ebola survivors to abstain from sex for at least 90 days following recovery – or, at the very least, to practice safe sex during that time.
“Ebola survivors should consider correct and consistent use of condoms for all sexual acts beyond three months until more information is available,” advised Nyenswah.
Liberian health officials have been monitoring over 200 individuals known to have come into contact with the woman who contracted the latest Ebola case, but so far none have shown any symptoms of the disease.
More than 10,000 people have succumbed to the disease during the year-long outbreak that officials are still struggling to contain. West African nations Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea have been the hardest hit by the worst Ebola epidemic in recorded history.
In order for the WHO to declare a country free of the epidemic, 42 days without the arrival of a new case must be observed. Liberia was well on its way to declaring the country free of the disease before its most recent infection. Sierra Leone, the worst hit of any country, just concluded a three-day national lockdown in order contain its own still-raging epidemic.
