Teenager dies as Ebola returns to Liberia: official
A teenager has died in Liberia in the
first such death since the country was
officially declared free of the virus in
September, an official said Tuesday.
“The 15-year-old has finally died. He
died yesterday,” Dr Francis Karteh, head
of Liberia’s national Ebola crisis unit,
told AFP.
He added that the teenager’s parents had
also tested positive for the virus and
were under observation in the capital
Monrovia.
It was confirmed last week that the boy
and two of his relatives had contracted
Ebola, which has left more than 11,300
people dead since December 2013 in its
worst ever outbreak, mainly in the west
African nations of Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone.
Liberia was first declared Ebola free in
May, only to see the fever resurface six
weeks later. The country was declared to
have officially beaten the epidemic for a
second time in September.
The World Health Organization
previously reported that the boy was 10
years old, but Karteh said he was in fact
15.
He fell sick on November 14 and was
hospitalised three days later in
Monrovia, the WHO said, adding that
150 people who had been in contact with
the family were being monitored.
Since the beginning of the outbreak,
Liberia has registered more than 10,600
cases and more than 4,800 deaths,
according to a WHO situation report
published last week.
The teenager’s death comes days after
Guinea’s last known Ebola case, a three-
week old girl, was declared cured on
November 16.
That announcement triggered a 42-day
countdown — twice the incubation
period of the virus — before Guinea can
be declared Ebola-free.
Sierra Leone was declared to have
beaten the virus earlier this month.
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