Third New Ebola Case Hits Nation That Only a Few Weeks Ago Declared Relief
“The new outbreak in Liberia is probably a rare reactivation that we are only seeing because there are so many Ebola survivors living in one place,” Reading University virologist Ben Neuman told Reuters.
In a nation that only declared itself as Ebola free almost two months ago, the news that a third person is confirmed to have the disease in Liberia, following two other cases, is raising fears that another outbreak could start.
It is also turning some researchers onto the possibility of animal transmission in these cases.
Dr. Moses Massaquoi with Liberia’s Ebola task force told Reuters that the three people in Margibi County all ate dog meat, a common food item in the country. Researchers are considering this means of transmission — Ebola is contracted through contact with infected bodily fluids — because none of these victims traveled to a country where the disease is still present. Another possibility is that there are “hidden pockets of the virus,” as Reuters put it, still in the country.
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