Traces of Ebola have been found in the semen of a man six months
after his recovery, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on
Wednesday, urging survivors to practise safe sex “until further
notice”. The man had been declared free of the deadly virus in
Liberia last September, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP.
“He has provided a semen sample which has tested… positive for
Ebola, 175 days after his negative blood test,” he said in an email.
The UN health agency had previously said the virus had been
detected in semen around three months after a patient had been
declared Ebola free.
The new finding has led WHO to recommend that survivors abstain
from having sex or that they practise safe sex using a condom
beyond the three-month period previously prescribed.
“Ebola survivors should consider correct and consistent use of
condoms for all sexual acts beyond three months until more
information is available,” it said on its website. Jasarevic said
more research was needed before WHO could provide more
detailed advice.
“We need to understand better if this particular case is an anomaly
or if there really are groups of people who might (carry) parts of
the Ebola virus longer,” he said.
Until more is known, Ebola survivors should abstain from sex or
practise safe sex “until further notice,” Bruce Aylward, who heads
WHO’s Ebola response, told reporters last week.
He said a number of studies were already under way, as well as
discussions about whether Ebola survivors should be
systematically screened after three months to determine their
status.
“We should have answers to allow us to give more definitive
advice to survivors very, very quickly,” he said. The deadliest
outbreak of Ebola in history began in late 2013 and has killed more
than 10,600 people, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/who-ebola-virus-found-in-semen-six-months-after-recovery/206942/

change should drive ebola far from 9ja..