Guinea
declared free of active Ebola transmission: WHO
Send a link to a friend
[June 01, 2016]
DAKAR (Reuters) - Guinea has reached
the end of active Ebola virus transmission, the World Health
Organization said on Wednesday, the second such declaration from the
country at the epicenter of the world's worst outbreak of the disease.
|
The proclamation was made because the person with Guinea's last
confirmed case tested negative for the second time more than 42 days
ago.
Guinea will now enter a 90-day period of heightened surveillance to
make sure of the identification of any new cases before they spread
to others.
In the most recent outbreak, seven confirmed and three possible
cases of the virus surfaced between March 17 and April 6. At least
five people died.
Another three cases were recorded in neighboring Liberia in a woman
who had traveled from Guinea and her two children.
The flare-up seems to have occurred after a person came into contact
with infected body fluid from an Ebola survivor, WHO said. Since the
virus can remain active in certain body fluids for months, the WHO
cautions the risk of outbreaks remain.
However, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said on Tuesday that the
organization was confident that affected countries were prepared and
could deal with flare-ups efficiently.
[to top of second column] |
Guinea is believed to be where the world's worst Ebola outbreak
occurred, spanning three countries primarily and killing 11,310
people. It first declared itself free of transmission in December.
(Reporting and writing by Makini Brice; Additional reporting by
Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|