Liberian health officials have released the latest Ebola numbers in a report confirming that all individuals who had contact with the last three confirmed human cases have finished their 21-day quarantines and follow-up appointments.
The first of the three cases involved a boy, 15, who died in late November. There were two related Ebola cases involving the boy’s little brother and his father. They both showed negative test results for the virus and were discharged from the clinic at the beginning of December.
Unfortunately, there have been another 210 people who could potentially have the virus because of the cases. They accepted the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, which the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the government of Liberia have administered as part of their Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia (PREVAIL) study.
Health professionals theorize that the latest Ebola cluster in Liberia is because the virus returned in a person who was previously infected with the virus. The probability of this happening is low but still a possibility.
As for Sierra Leone, it is now beginning its 90-day period in which health officials conduct heightened surveillance. This period will end on Feb. 5.
