Liberia monitors over 150 Ebola contacts as virus re-emerges

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Health | Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:52am EST

Liberia monitors over 150 Ebola contacts as virus re-emerges

MONROVIA | BY JAMES HARDING GIAHYUE

Liberia has placed 153 people under surveillance as it seeks to control a new Ebola outbreak in the capital more than two months after the country was declared free of the virus, health officials said.

Three Ebola cases emerged in Liberia on Friday. The first of the new patients was a 15-year-old boy called Nathan Gbotoe from Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia. Two other family members have since been confirmed as positive and they are all hospitalized.

"We have three confirmed cases and have listed 153 contacts, and we have labeled them as high, medium and low in terms of the risk," Liberia's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francis Kateh told Reuters late on Saturday.

The West African country has suffered the highest death toll in the worst known Ebola outbreak in history, losing more than 4,800 people. It has twice been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization, once in May and again on Sept. 3, only for new cases to emerge.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/22/us-health-ebola-liberia-idUSKBN0TB0GV20151122

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Ebola crisis: Liberia boy dies after fresh cases

A 15-year-old boy has died of Ebola in Liberia less than three months after the country was declared free of the virus, officials have told the BBC.

He tested positive last week and died late on Monday at a treatment centre near the capital, Monrovia, Francis Kateh, the chief medical officer, said.

His father and brother are being treated for Ebola at the centre.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has twice declared Liberia to be Ebola-free, once in May and again in September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34909949