The World Health Organisation today urged survivors of the Ebola virus to practice safe s*x “until further notice”.
This directive was made known because of the discovery of traces of Ebola found in the semen of a man six months after he recovered from the deadly virus. The man had been declared free of the deadly virus in Liberia last September, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP.
“He has provided a semen sample which has tested… positive for Ebola, 175 days after his negative blood test,” he said in an email. The UN health agency had previously said the virus had been detected in semen around three months after a patient had been declared Ebola free.
The new finding has led WHO to recommend that survivors abstain from having s*x or that they practice safe s*x using a condom beyond the three-month period previously prescribed.
“Ebola survivors should consider correct and consistent use of condoms for all s*xual acts beyond three months until more information is available,” it says on its website. Jasarevic said more research was needed before WHO could provide more detailed advice. “We need to understand better if this particular case is an anomaly or if there really are groups of people who might (carry) parts of the Ebola virus longer,” he said.
Bruce Aylward, who heads WHO’s Ebola response, told reporters last week that a number of studies were already under way, as well as discussions about whether Ebola survivors should be systematically screened after three months to determine their status.
“We should have answers to allow us to give more definitive advice to survivors very, very quickly,” he concluded.
Recently the World Health Organisation announced that the three countries with the highest recorded Ebola cases have recorded their lowest weekly number of new cases for months.
Meanwhile, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi-Araba management team has denied rumours that the deadly Ebola virus has brought back its ugly head in the country.
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