FREETOWN , Sierra Leone, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Sierra Leone reported one Ebola case Friday, a day after western Africa was declared Ebola-free.
A test on a man who died in Sierra Leone's northern Tonkolili district confirmed the Ebola virus was present, and officials are seeking any contacts he may have had to decrease the possibility of a chain of progression. The country was pronounced Ebola-free in November by the World Health Organization, but it was only Thursday that neighboring Liberia received a similar assessment. A country is regarded as Ebola-free when two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case received a negative second test.
The WHO has warned that flare-ups of the disease, which can kill up to 90 percent of its victims and is passed by bodily fluids which include semen and breast milk, are expected.
The epidemic was of global concern in 2013 and 2014, until a concerted international effort was launched to combat the disease. As of Jan. 13, 2016, 11,315 people have died of the Ebola virus, the overwhelming majority in western Africa, including 3,955 in Sierra Leone, 4,809 in Liberia and 2,536 in Guinea, the WHO reported.
