A Liberian man who survived Ebola may have passed the virus to a woman through unprotected sex five months after he had recovered, according to a Centers for Disease Control report.
The woman from Monrovia was admitted to a facility for rapid isolation, diagnosis, and referral of Ebola patients in mid-March. Although she had had no contact with individuals infected with the Ebola virus, she did report having unprotected sex with a man who had survived the virus.
The man had developed the disease in September and was treated and had recovered by early October, roughly five months before his encounter with the Monrovian woman.
Following the report of the woman's infection, the man was tested for Ebola again, using both a blood and semen sample. The blood sample tested negative for Ebola but tests of the man's semen did find traces of the Ebola virus' genetic material despite being taken nearly 200 days after he first developed symptoms.
Based on the CDC's investigation, the agency now recommends that contact with semen from male Ebola survivors be avoided until more information is gathered on the duration and infectiousness of viral shedding in body fluids.
If male Ebola survivors do have sex, the CDC recommends using a condom correctly and consistently.
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