Recovery

Liberia's Ebola cluster grows to 3, linked to fatal case in Guinea

Two Ebola case-patients, both children, and one fatality in Liberia have been linked to a fatal Ebola infection in Guinea's ongoing flare-up, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today, increasing the number of recent cases in Liberia to three.

The Liberian fatal case involves the wife of a deceased Ebola patient in Guinea's Macenta prefecture. She and her three children traveled to Monrovia, Liberia, following the man's death, where she developed symptoms of Ebola and died on Mar 31.

Two of her sons have tested positive for Ebola and are receiving treatment in a Monrovia hospital, the WHO said. More than 100 of the family's Liberian contacts are being monitored for signs of infection.

Ebola RNA was recovered from cleaned surfaces in a high isolation unit where a patient infected with the disease had been treated and discharged, researchers wrote in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. They said their findings underscore the importance of careful and extensive terminal disinfection.

“Currently, no studies have been published reporting [Ebola virus (EBOV)] transmission through the environment or through fomites, if not visibly contaminated with bodily fluids,” Vincenzo Puro, MD, of the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome, and colleagues wrote. “However, guidelines strongly support a high level of precautions in environmental cleaning.”