Freetown – Sierra Leone is to vaccinate around 200 people who came into direct or indirect contact with a woman who died of Ebola on Saturday.
WHO spokesperson, Margret Harris, disclosed this on Wednesday in Freetown as the fresh case foiled the nation’s effort at ending the 18 month epidemic.
The 67-year-old woman died five days after Sierra Leone started a 42-day countdown to being declared free of Ebola. The previous new case of the disease was reported on Aug 8.
More than 28,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, have been infected by Ebola and third of the figure have so far been killed.
‘’We will vaccinate those in the Tonko Limba chiefdom, who came into direct contact with the deceased, and those contacts they also came into close contact with,”
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“We have to ensure that everybody is fully informed and consents,” Harris said.
According to her, voluntary vaccinations with a drug that arrived from Guinea and has proved effective there, will start on Thursday or Friday.
In the same development, Pallo Conteh, Head of the Sierra Leone National Ebola Response Center, said that the fresh case was discouraging and a reminder of the difficulty of battling Ebola.
He appealed to a woman identified as the niece of the victim,to come forward, saying she was at high risk.
Liberia was declared Ebola-free in May, but a fresh cluster of cases appeared nearly two months later, as the last case was discharged on July 23.
Scientists say sexual transmission is the most likely explanation for the resurgence in Liberia since the virus can live on in semen beyond the usual 21-day incubation period (Reuters/NAN)
Sierra Leone to vaccinate 200 people connected to Ebola victim
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