The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Ebola survivors can pass on the virus through sex if it stays in their semen after recovery. Patrick Otim, programme area manager for emergency response at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, explained the risk in a video answering questions about the virus. Premium Times first reported his comments, and AllAfrica republished them.
Otim said the virus can remain in some parts of the body after a patient recovers clinically. Male survivors should receive counselling on safer sex and access to condoms when they leave treatment centres. They should also have regular semen tests until they get two negative results in a row.
Where no semen-testing programme exists, the WHO recommends that male survivors practise safer sex for 12 months. "Ebola virus after recovery and for patients with what we call a viral persistence can be transmitted through sexual intercourse," Otim said.
According to Otim, discharged survivors cannot spread the virus through sweat or saliva. Patients need two negative blood tests before discharge. This means the virus has cleared from their blood. He warned, however, that people who are still ill can spread Ebola through sweat and other body fluids.
The guidance comes during an Ebola outbreak involving DR Congo and Kenya, AllAfrica reported. On Tuesday, DR Congo's Ministry of Public Health released figures showing 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths. The Star reported that cases in DR Congo have passed 10,000. Al Jazeera showed celebrations as the last patient left one Ebola centre in the country.
Nigeria confirmed an imported case on October 20. The patient, a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja, was evacuated to Switzerland with her husband on Monday. The WHO said Nigeria had no active confirmed cases after the evacuation. Health authorities are still monitoring contacts.
In Kenya, the Daily Nation reported that the government is assessing the possible economic cost of an outbreak. The assessment is part of its plan to fight the virus.