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New Ebola Case Is Discovered in Liberia New Ebola Case Is Discovered in Liberia
(about 11 hours later)
MONROVIA, Liberia — More than a month after being declared free of Ebola, Liberia has experienced a new case of the disease, discovered when the body of 17-year-old boy tested positive for the virus, officials said Tuesday. MONROVIA, Liberia — More than a month after Liberia was declared free of Ebola, at least two new cases have emerged, the first discovered when the body of a 17-year-old boy tested positive for the virus, officials said Tuesday.
The World Health Organization declared Liberia Ebola-free on May 9, a landmark moment in the country, which has suffered more deaths from the epidemic than any other. The World Health Organization declared Liberia Ebola-free on May 9, a landmark moment in the country, which has suffered more deaths from the epidemic than any other.
Now, the emergence of a new case ends the nation’s Ebola-free status, said Tolbert Nyenswah, Liberia’s deputy minister for health, at a news conference in the capital, Monrovia. But on Tuesday, Tolbert Nyenswah, Liberia’s deputy minister for health, announced at a news conference here in the capital that a new case had emerged.
The case occurred in a small waterside village just outside Monrovia. The family of the 17-year-old, who died over the weekend, called a burial team that took swabs of the body and sent them to a laboratory. It confirmed that the boy had been infected by the virus. It occurred in a small town just outside Monrovia. The family of Abraham Memaigar, 17, who died over the weekend, called a burial team that took swabs of the body and sent them to a laboratory. It confirmed that the boy had been infected by the virus.
He was safely buried, according to Mr. Nyenswah, adding that the family was being provided with food and other necessities while remaining under observation at home. On Tuesday, an Ebola response team exhumed the body and had blood drawn for a more precise swab test. That test also came back positive.
“The Ebola fight is not over but we must not lose hope,” said Liberia’s newly appointed minister of health, Dr. Bernice Dahn. She contended that the quick response to the case, including the rapid testing and confirmation that the boy had the virus, demonstrated Liberia’s preparedness to deal with the emergence of another outbreak. Dr. Moses Massaquoi, the case manager for the response team, said the blood test was necessary because investigators could not find the source of the infection and were trying to determine whether it was an “isolated outbreak or new strain of the virus.”
Liberia has recorded the highest number of deaths of any country during the outbreak, with close to 5,000 lives lost. Late Tuesday, a person connected to Abraham tested positive for Ebola, and tests of two other people were inconclusive, Dr. Massaquoi said.
The newest case is being investigated by the county health team. The number of contacts the boy had, and the source of infection, has not yet been established, Mr. Nyenswah said. Thirty-three people who had contact with the teenager were isolated in their homes and were being monitored, he said. Three people will be sent to a treatment unit here Wednesday, he said.
An Ebola Treatment Unit has been reactivated, at a time when treatment units built with the help of the United States military have been empty and the Liberian government was beginning to close them. “The Ebola fight is not over, but we must not lose hope,” said Dr. Bernice Dahn, Liberia’s newly appointed minister of health. She contended that the quick response to Abraham’s case, including the rapid testing and confirmation that the boy had the virus, demonstrated Liberia’s preparedness to deal with another outbreak.
Mr. Nyenswah said that it had not been established whether the infection came from Guinea or Sierra Leone, West African neighbors that are still grappling with small numbers of new Ebola cases. Liberia has recorded close to 5,000 lives lost to the virus.
The country reactivated an Ebola treatment unit at a time when the facilities, built with the help of the United States military, had stood empty and Liberia was beginning to close them.
Mr. Nyenswah said it was not yet known whether the infection came from Guinea or Sierra Leone, West African neighbors that still have small numbers of new Ebola cases.
Abraham, who sold used clothes at a local market, fell ill at his mother’s house a week before his death, experiencing fever, diarrhea and vomiting.
Abraham’s father, James S. Memaigar, 49, a shoe salesman, said a local clinic had told him just three days before his son’s death that Abraham had malaria. The clinic had sent him home with a handful of tablets, Mr. Memaigar said.
Abraham died Sunday in his father’s home in a community known as Smell No Taste, a few miles from his mother’s home and a short distance from Liberia’s international airport and the Firestone rubber plantation.
Mr. Memaigar had contacted the burial team and dragged his son’s body out of his room on a mattress. Abraham was buried the same day by an Ebola burial team in an overgrown cemetery a short distance from the house.
Dr. Dahn said investigators were trying to determine how the boy had become infected.