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Ebola virus transmission eliminated in Liberia
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It has been more than 42 days since the last patient was discharged from an Ebola treatment unit in Liberia — more than twice the length of the maximum incubation period of the virus — and transmission rates are at the lowest point in a year in Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to a recent MMWR.
This is the second time in a 4-month duration that WHO confirmed Liberia was free of Ebola virus transmission, Luke Bawo, MPH, from the Liberia Ministry of Health, and colleagues wrote. On May 9, Liberia also was declared free of Ebola virus transmission for 50 days until a new case was verified through a postmortem swab. Since then, five more cases, including one death, two possible cases and 143 contacts have been identified. Liberia officials have not confirmed a new infection, however, since July 12.
“The rapid identification and control of this most recent Ebola cluster highlight the important achievements in enhancing public health response capacity,” Bawo and colleagues wrote. “In addition, the occurrence of this cluster underscores the need for continued vigilance, postmortem testing, and adherence to WHO recommendations for heightened post-outbreak surveillance.”
Other public health strategies are in progress to strengthen surveillance for Ebola and other infectious diseases, such as training at the county-level in accordance with Liberia’s integrated disease surveillance and response guidelines, improvements in public health laboratory capacity and field epidemiology training, according to the report.
In a separate report, Sara Hersey, MPH, from the CDC Sierra Leone Response Team, and colleagues wrote that substantially fewer cases of Ebola virus were reported in August in Guinea and Sierra Leone. There were 10 confirmed cases in Guinea and four confirmed cases in Sierra Leone, compared with 526 and 1,997 cases, respectively, reported during the peak of disease transmission in November 2014, the report said.
“Active case ascertainment, investigation, and daily interaction with all known contacts, combined with community engagement, safe burials, robust laboratory support (including genetic sequencing), and social mobilization are all tools for controlling Ebola in West Africa,” Hersey and colleagues wrote.
However, the regions still require ongoing enhanced surveillance and rapid response capability to identify new patients and prevent reintroduction of the disease. The researchers wrote that the most effective strategy in Ebola control is to ensure that contacts of patients with confirmed Ebola infection are monitored for the recommended 21 days after exposure. – by Stephanie Viguers
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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