Liberia recorded a second death from the latest resurgence of the Ebola virus on the 12th of July.
The latest death, is that of a young woman who was in her early 20s. She has been linked to the 17 year old deceased teen who expired on the 28th of June.
This new death from another county has raised concerns that perhaps the contact tracing was not rigorous enough.
The lady was the sister of one of the other 4 cases being treated in a Monrovia hospital.
About 120 contacts of the deceased teen are still in quarantine, some of whom will be discharged after 21 days if they show no signs of infection.
The WHO has said that the samples obtained from the first case in this latest resurgence (the deceased teen) shows the virus to be genetically similar to the viruses in the previous infection in the area about 6 months ago.
This finding by genetic sequencing makes it unlikely for the source of the recent resurgence to be from Guinea or Sierra Leone, or from an animal.
The deputy minister of health in a statement said that the early onset of contact tracing and monitoring as well as the isolation of the sick shows that Liberia is "in control of the outbreak."
3 new cases were recorded in Liberia in the week that ended on the 12th of June, which brings the total number of cases in this most recent outbreak in Liberia to 6.
Sierra Leone
There has been a sudden rise in new infections in the capital Freetown.
14 cases were recorded in Sierra Leone last week.
10 of the cases were from Freetown.
2 people escaped from an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone for two hours this past week before they were found. Efforts are being made to locate everyone they had contact with before they were found. This is a pointer to the distrust and fear which has further propagated the spread of the virus and caused a lull in the victories previously recorded.
Efforts to continue to re orientate and educate the communities in a bid to stop the virus still continues.
Meanwhile Ebola burial teams in Sierra Leone have been accused of demanding bribe from the families of the deceased to carry out safe burials. Investigations are ongoing to confirm this as it may lead to more illegal burials and further transmission of the virus.
Guinea
13 cases were reported in Guinea in the week to the 12th of July.
One of the infections from Forecariah was that of a health worker. Investigations are still ongoing to detect how the worker contracted the virus.
Overall, there were 30 confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease in the week to 12th July (13 in Guinea, 3 in Liberia, and 14 in Sierra Leone).
Most of the reported cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone were from the capital cities of Guinea and Sierra Leone (Conakry and Freetown respectively).
All the 9 cases from Conakry and all the 10 from Freetown were either registered contacts of a previous case or have an established epidemiological link to a known chain of transmission.
One of the 30 cases was from an unknown source of infection.
7 of the 30 cases were however identified after post mortem tests. This shows that more rigorous contact tracing, aimed at minimising transmission and early detection of the disease needs to be worked on.
Warnings for the most populous Nation in Africa : Nigeria
Liberia also in West Africa is not far from Nigeria.
Nigerians have been urged not to forget so soon how a Liberian infected with Ebola came into Lagos undetected spreading the virus to the health workers that attended to him.
The Nigerian government and the Federal Ministry of Health have been urged to ensure that no Ebola infected person(s) is allowed into the country by air, sea ports or across land borders.
The land borders are to be strictly monitored and equipped to conduct temperature checks for everyone entering or leaving the country.
The sea ports too should be heavily monitored.
More awareness campaigns on Ebola should be broadcast on radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and via the internet.
Religious organizations and places of worship should join in helping to propagate this enlightenment campaign.
All hands must be on deck to ensure that Nigeria does not catch the virus, as this may be disastrous for the rest of Africa.
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