WHO declares West Africa Ebola-free

In an important milestone, Ebola epidemic that killed over 11,000 people and triggered a global health alert for the last two years has died down in West Africa with WHO on Thursday declaring Liberia, the last affected country, free of the deadly virus disease.

The WHO, however, cautioned that it was too early to fully declare an end to the epidemic globally as residual infections may start flare-ups again because virus can persist in survivors for up to a year and be transmitted through sex and other means.

Liberia, which along with Sierra Leone and Guinea was an epicenter of the latest outbreak, was first declared free of the disease last May, but new cases emerged two times.

The latest flare-up was in November last year which killed a boy. “On Thursday is a good day. It is an important day. On Thursday, WHO declares the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia. The outbreak that is associated with the flare up of cases mid-November,” said Dr Rick Brennan, Director of WHO’s Department of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response.

“It is also the first time that all three countries in West Africa — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- have stopped all known chains of transmission of the disease since the outbreak started in 2014,” he added.