Global Health

Despite a ban on bush meat, due to the threat of Ebola, Liberians are once again selling it in markets and along the sides of roads.  Photo: Issa Davies/IRIN

irinnews.org - by Prince Collins - June 24, 2015

. . . the trade in bush meat, a known source of the Ebola virus, has picked up once again. . . .

. . . Monkeys, antelope, raccoons, rodents, bats, and a variety of other animals native to the forests of Liberia, are once again filling market stalls around the country. . . . 

. . . As the official US government advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “human infections have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing of meat of infected animals.”

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Trial to examine long-term health effects of Ebola virus disease

nih.gov - June 17, 2015

The Liberia-U.S. clinical research partnership known as PREVAIL has launched a study of people in Liberia who have survived Ebola virus disease (EVD) within the past two years. The study investigators hope to better understand the long-term health consequences of EVD, determine if survivors develop immunity that will protect them from future Ebola infection, and assess whether previously EVD-infected individuals can transmit infection to close contacts and sexual partners. The study, sponsored by the Ministry of Health of Liberia and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, will take place at various sites in Liberia and is expected to enroll approximately 7,500 people, including 1,500 people of any age who survived EVD and 6,000 of their close contacts.

Health workers leave after they took a blood specimen from a child to test for the Ebola virus in a area were a 17-year old boy died from the virus on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Three cases of the disease have been confirmed in the country, which previously had been Ebola-free for nearly two months.

news.yahoo.com - AFP - by Zoom Dosso - July 1, 2015

Liberia said Wednesday a teenager who died of Ebola fever had spread the virus to at least two more people, confirming the first outbreak of the tropical disease for months. . . .

. . . "One hundred and two contacts have been identified, although that number is expected to increase as investigations continue," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest report on the epidemic.

"At this stage the origin of infection is not known. The case reportedly had no recent history of travel, contact with visitors from affected areas, or funeral attendance." . . .

. . . The news came a day after Health Minister Bernice Dahn announced the first Ebola infection in Liberia for more than three months, warning that it was "likely that we will find additional cases".