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WHO declares end of Ebola transmission in Guinea

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the end of Ebola virus transmission in Guinea, one of the three West African countries hardest hit by the epidemic in 2014, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

"Forty-two days have passed since the last person confirmed to have Ebola tested negative for the second time" in the West African country, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"Guinea now enters a 90-day period of heightened surveillance to ensure that any new cases are identified quickly before they can spread to other people."

"The World Health Organization stresses that the risk of additional outbreaks from exposure to infected body fluids of survivors remains," he said.

For its part, Liberia is expected to be declared Ebola-free on June 9, he said.

In the latest outbreak, seven confirmed and three probable cases of Ebola virus disease were reported between March 17 and April 6 in Guinea. In addition, three confirmed cases were reported on April 1-5 in a woman and her two children who had travelled from Macenta, Guinea, to Monrovia, Liberia.

In January, WHO declared the end of the most recent flare-up of Ebola virus disease in Liberia, saying all known chains of transmission have been stopped in West Africa.

WHO reported that in total 28,637 people contracted Ebola and 11,315 died -- overwhelmingly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- during the outbreak which began in 2014.

"The source of infection in this latest outbreak is likely to have been due to exposure to infected body fluid from an Ebola survivor," the spokesman said. "The risk of additional outbreaks from exposure to infected body fluids of survivors remains."

WHO and partners are working with the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to help ensure that survivors have access to medical and psychosocial care, screening for persistent virus, as well as counselling and education to help them reintegrate into family and community life, reduce stigma and minimize the risk of Ebola virus transmission, he said.

"WHO is supporting the three most-affected countries to strengthen key public health programmes, especially maternal and child health, while continuing to maintain the capacity to detect, prevent and respond to any flare-up of Ebola," Dujarric added. Enditem