The virus has claimed 3 more lives, health officials say

Jul 4, 2015 10:07 GMT  ·  By

On May 9, World Health Organization officials declared the country of Liberia in West Africa to be Ebola-free. The announcement was made following a 42-day period during which no new cases of people infected with the deadly virus were reported in this corner of the world. 

Less than two months later, however, the Ebola virus made a comeback in Liberia. On June 29, a 17-year-old boy was confirmed to have died after having contracted the disease. Soon enough, health officials zoomed in on two other cases of people infected with the virus.

These two latest Ebola patients are now in isolation at a treatment center. They were among the 200 or so people who came into contact with the 17-year-old victim not long before his death and whom health officials are now closely monitoring for signs of infection.

“The investigation revealed that close to 200 people had been in contact with the young man while he had symptoms of Ebola and these people are now being closely monitored,” specialists with the World Health Organization write in a report.

“Two of those people have developed symptoms and have tested positive for Ebola virus. Both of these people are being treated in an Ebola treatment center,” they go on detail. As for the teenager, it is unclear where he might have come into contact with the Ebola virus.

Liberia was never really safe from Ebola 

Although declared Ebola-free by World Health Organization officials, Liberia was never really safe from this disease, not with the epidemic still ongoing in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Hence the fact that, over the past few weeks, medical experts have been collecting and analyzing hundreds of swabs and blood samples from people displaying Ebola-like symptoms. It was this intense screening that made it possible to quickly identify the country's new cases.

Looking to keep the virus from spreading any further and prevent a new Ebola epidemic in Liberia, health officials are asking that people in the 17-year-old's home community do not leave the area until they are confirmed not to have contracted the virus.

Since December 2013, when the first cases where reported, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has infected over 26,000 people and claimed well over 10,000 lives. The virus has had such an easy time spreading due to the lack of preparedness of local health systems.