New Delhi: The Ebola outbreak that took West Africa by storm from 2013-2016, was also declared an epidemic and a global emergency by the World Health Organisation.
It was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history and resulted in major loss of life and socio-economic disruption in the region, mainly in the countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
As per Wikipedia, the most recent flare-up of the epidemic was declared over on June 9, 2016, 42 days after the last case tested negative on April 28, 2016 in Monrovia.
In December 2016, an experimental Ebola vaccine tested on humans in the waning days of the West African epidemic had shown 100 percent protection against the lethal disease.
Now, new research on the Ebola virus has found that male survivors of the infectious disease can carry viral RNA in their semen for an extended period of time, thus increasing the risk of spreading the disease, even after they have recovered from the infection themselves.
The research was recently published by a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and clinicians based in Liberia.
It suggests that the virus may persist in semen for up to 565 days, with unprotected sexual intercourse being “strongly suspected in the transmission of Ebola virus disease from a male survivor… to his female partner,” as per a previous report, published in 2015.
The new report, published online on February 15, 2017 by the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers describe the case of a 48-year-old man with a history of HIV infection (both HIV-1 and HIV-2) who was admitted on August 27, 2014 to an Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia, Liberia with “a 1-week history of fever, chills, and weakness and a 2-day history of vomiting and diarrhea.” Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed that Ebola virus was present in the man’s blood, with a cycle threshold (Ct) of 32.39. He was treated for the virus, and continued to receive antiretroviral therapy for HIV-2 (zidovudine/lamivudine/lopinavir plus ritonavir), while in the facility. He was discharged 11 days later after subsequent RT-PCR was negative, a report in Contagionlive.com said.
The patient’s CD4 cell count 4 months prior to his Ebola diagnosis was 459/μL, and it was 529/μL following his recovery from Ebola. In October 2015, the patient was enrolled in Liberia’s Men’s Health Screening Program, which, according to the authors, was established by the country’s Ministry of Health that same year to provide semen testing for Ebola and safe-sex education for disease survivors. Per program protocol, the patient’s semen was tested for Ebola every 4 weeks (via RT-PCR).
The authors report that the patient’s semen tested positive for Ebola (viral structural protein 40 gene and nucleoprotein gene targets with Ct values <40) for 565 days following his discharge from the Ebola treatment unit. His Ct values “plateaued to indeterminate” in samples “up to 758 days” following discharge.
ContagionLive.com further reported that based on their findings, the authors recommend that West African semen testing programs for Ebola virus offer HIV screening to male survivors “with persistently detectable Ebola virus in semen.” They add that, “This case-patient had a favorable outcome… despite being HIV positive, which emphasizes the need for continuing treatment for HIV infection in the setting of a large-scale Ebola outbreak.” HIV treatment was interrupted in many West African nations during the Ebola outbreak, the authors have reported.
