Health officials in West Africa are investigating a possible Guinea connection to a new Ebola flare-up in Liberia, where a second recent confirmed case has been reported.
The case involves the young son of a 30-year-old woman, who recently died from her infection while en route to a Monrovia hospital, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement.
Liberia recently reported its third Ebola recurrence, and Guinea is battling a nine-person cluster, with seven of the illnesses fatal. The Guinea outbreak is centred in the Nzerekore district city of Koropara, in the south.
The WHO on Mar 29 declared the end of the Ebola public health emergency of international concern, but it warned that sporadic clusters would probably continue to be reported as lingering virus levels decline in the survivor population.
Citing Liberian authorities, the WHO said the woman arrived in Liberia on Mar 21 with her three children, soon after her husband died in Guinea from an undetermined cause. She stayed with family in Monrovia, where she started having symptoms and went to local clinics for treatment before hospital transport on Mar 31.
One of her sons, who according to media reports is 5 years old, tested positive for Ebola and is at an Ebola treatment facility in Monrovia. The WHO said the woman’s two other children and her sister are under close medical supervision.
Liberia has reactivated its emergency response system, with help from its health partners, and the response will include ring vaccination of Ebola contacts.
So far, responders have identified 84 contacts in Liberia, and those households have been offered food, water, supplies, and other support, the WHO said.
According to earlier reports, Liberia had announced on Mar 22 that it was closing its borders, due to the flare-up of the disease in Guinea.
