WHO declares Guinea Ebola free

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Guinea Ebola free on Tuesday, thereby ending two-year long plague in West Africa. This is the first time in two years- when original chain of transmission that began in Gueckedou, Guinea in December 2013 and spread to seven other countries- that all three Ebola affected countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) are Ebola free.

The WHO in a press statement, said that 42 days have passed since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease tested negative for the second time. “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 end of Ebola transmission in Guinea marks an important milestone in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. “This is the first time that all three countries have stopped the original chains of transmission that were responsible for starting this devastating outbreak,” says Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “As we work towards building resilient health care systems, we need to stay vigilant to ensure that we rapidly stop any new flares that may come up in 2016.”

In addition to the original chain of transmission, there have been 10 new small Ebola outbreaks (or ‘flares’) between March and November 2015. These appear to have been due to the re-emergence of a persistent virus from the survivor population. Among the challenges survivors have faced is that after recovering from Ebola virus disease and clearing the virus from their bloodstream, the virus may persist in the semen of some male survivors for as long as 9-12 months.

“The coming months will be absolutely critical,” says Dr. Bruce Aylward, special representative of the director-general for the Ebola Response, WHO. “This is the period when the countries need to be sure that they are fully prepared to prevent, detect and respond to any new cases. The time-limited persistence of virus in survivors which may give rise to new Ebola flares in 2016 makes it imperative that partners continue to support these countries. WHO will maintain surveillance and outbreak response teams in the three countries through 2016.”