As Ebola flares up, Guinea plans to vaccinate contacts of survivors

A billboard with a message about Ebola is seen on a street in Conakry, Guinea (Copyright Reuters 2016)

CONAKRY – Guinea will soon vaccinate people who have come into contact with more than 500 men who have recovered from Ebola, a senior health official said, the first time it has vaccinated the contacts of survivors.

The decision reflects research that indicates Ebola can remain in the bodily fluids of survivors for months. The contacts will include but will not be limited to sexual partners, said Fode Tass Sylla, the spokesman for the West African nation's center for the fight against Ebola.

"We know the virus can stay in the sperm of a healed patient for a certain period of time," Sylla said. "That's why we want to vaccinate the circles of 501 men, to avoid all risk of spreading the disease."

The vaccinations will begin in the next few days, Sylla said. The center also plans an awareness campaign to warn mothers who have recovered from the virus against breastfeeding their newborns, he said.

One of three countries at the epicenter of the world's worst recorded Ebola outbreak, along with Liberia and Sierra Leone, Guinea was declared free of active transmissions of the virus in December 2015. But it announced eight new cases last month.

There are 10,000 survivors of the deadly hemorrhagic fever in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO said 800 possible contacts of people suffering from Ebola had been vaccinated against the virus in the so-called "ring vaccination" method. That means swiftly vaccinating anyone who has come into contact with an Ebola sufferer and contacts of theirs. More than 1,000 people were under observation.

Liberia, which has declared the outbreak over three times, closed its border with Guinea after its neighbor announced its fresh cases.

Liberia announced a new Ebola case, a 30-year-old woman who died en route to the hospital, on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether she had traveled to Guinea.

(Reporting by Saliou Samb; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Larry King)