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Woman in Liberia thought to have caught Ebola after having unprotected sex with survivor SIX MONTHS after he was cured
- 44-year-old diagnosed on March 20, 14 days after sex with male survivor
- Man tested negative for the virus 199 days before apparently passing it on
- Potentially means Ebloa can survive twice as long as previously thought
Published: 16:43 GMT, 2 May 2015 | Updated: 16:50 GMT, 2 May 2015
A woman in Liberia is feared to have caught Ebola after having unprotected sex with a survivor more than six months after he was cured.
The 44-year-old, from Monrovia, was diagnosed with Ebola on March 20, 14 days after having unprotected sex with a man, 46, who had previously tested negative for the lethal virus.
If the transmission is confirmed it will mean that the virus survived in his semen for 199 days, suggesting patients stay infectious for more than twice as long as previously thought.
A 44-year-old Liberian woman, is thought to have caught Ebola from unprotected sex with a survivor of the virus six months after he was cured, suggesting it can survive in semen much longer than previously thought
While doctors have long known it is possible to catch Ebola through semen, the previous limit for the virus surviving was thought to be 82 days.
Medics in Liberia, where this woman is currently the only confirmed case, are now advising all survivors to wear condoms when having sex until the result can be confirmed.
The new discover potentially raises fears that eradicating the virus could be much more difficult than previously thought in countries where contraceptives are scarce.
According to a report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the man was initially infected with Ebola on September 9, 2014.
He was admitted to an Ebola treatment unit on September 23 and a blood test the same week showed signs of the virus in his bloodstream.
He was released from the treatment centre October 7 after his symptoms cleared up and several tests showed no sign of the virus in his bloodstream.
However, it is thought that traces of the virus survived in his semen, meaning he could have infected the woman after having unprotected sex with her on March 7 this year.
The woman first began showing signs of the virus seven days later, was admitted to hospital on March 17, sent to an isolation two days later, and was officially diagnosed on March 20.
While doctors have not yet confirmed the transmission, the last confirmed victim of the virus died in isolation on a week after she contracted the disease, making it unlikely that she caught it from them (file image)
The report says: '[We] found no history of travel by patient A, no interaction with visitors from Sierra Leone or Guinea, no recent funeral attendance, and no contact with a person with symptoms consistent with Ebola.'
Liberia's last confirmed Ebola patient also died on March 27 while in an isolation unit, meaning it is highly unlikely the woman caught it from them.
While medics say they cannot confirm that the disease was passed on through sex, they have advised all survivors to use condoms every time they have intercourse.
Doctors also discovered that the man had unprotected sex with another woman, 45, 'three to five times', but she shows no signs of infection.
According to the World Health Organization, 26,298 people have been infected with Ebola in the West African outbreak, and 10,892 have died, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Liberia has had no new Ebola cases in five weeks. That country's last confirmed case died March 27. The WHO declares countries to be Ebola-free 42 days after the last known case. If there are no additional cases, Liberia could be declared Ebola-free May 9.
A total of 33 new cases were diagnosed in Sierra Leone and Guinea in the week ending April 26, the WHO says. No health workers have been diagnosed with Ebola for the past two weeks.
More than 865 health workers have been infected with the virus and 504 have died.
