Liberia Recommends Ebola Survivors Practice Safe Sex Indefinitely

THE NEW YORK TIMES  by Sheri Fink                                                                          March 29, 2015

The Liberian government recommended on Saturday that survivors of Ebola practice safe sex indefinitely, until more information can be collected on the length of time the virus might remain present in body fluids including semen. Previously, male survivors were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse or to use condoms for three months, reflecting that the active virus had been detected for up to 82 days in semen.

Acting on new developments, all countries affected by the Ebola outbreak need to consider applying similar recommendations, said Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations secretary general’s special envoy for Ebola.

Agencies involved in the response were urgently reviewing the issue. “Yet again the Ebola-affected communities are asked to deal carefully with an unknown,” Dr. Nabarro wrote in an email, adding that survivors “should not be stigmatized as they take actions for the public good. They are the heroes.”

The new guidelines came one day after the death of Liberia’s single confirmed patient with Ebola, Ruth Tugbah. Before her illness, the country had gone three weeks without a new Ebola diagnosis, and hopes had risen that Liberia was nearing the end of a yearlong epidemic that killed more than 4,000 people there. Ms. Tugbah’s only known risk factor was having a boyfriend who was an Ebola survivor.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/world/africa/indefinite-safe-sex-urged-for-liberia-ebola-survivors.html?_r=0