WHO To Vaccinate 200 People In Sierra Leone After Ebola Death

A 42-day countdown to being declared Ebola-free has been begun by Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization is to begin vaccinating close to 200 people in Sierra Leone who came into contact with a woman who died from Ebola on August 29.

Woman aged 67-year-old from the Kambia district near the border with Guinea, died just five days after the country discharged its last known Ebola patient from hospital. A 42-day countdown has started in Sierra Leone to being declared Ebola-free - the last reported case of the disease being on Aug. 8.

"We will vaccinate those � who came into direct contact with the deceased and those contacts they also came into close contact with," said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.

The head of the National Ebola Response Center in Sierra Leone, Pallo Conteh, said more Ebola cases in the country are likely to be reported. Ebola experts are still investigating the source of transmission and have appealed to the niece of the woman to come forward as she was at high risk.

Last year Ebola infected more than 28,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and killed more than 11,300. Ebola virus disease, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a disease caused by a virus that gets its name from Ebola River. The virus is known to be transmitted via contact with body fluids or blood from an infected person or through infected needles. However, due to the high mortality and quick death, the spread of the disease is limited.

Source: Medindia