{Liberia is to be declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), effectively putting an end to the world’s worst outbreak of the disease.}<\/p>\n
The “end of active transmission” will be declared, after 42 days without a new case in Liberia.<\/p>\n
It joins Guinea and Sierra Leone, which earned the status last year.
\nHowever, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that West Africa may see flare-ups of the virus. It has killed more than 11,000 people since December 2013.<\/p>\n
A country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a second time.<\/p>\n
However, the end of active transmission of Ebola has been declared twice before in Liberia – only for the infection to re-emerge.<\/p>\n
This is why the expected declaration by WHO later on Thursday will be marked with caution, BBC Africa’s health correspondent Anne Soy says.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Mr Ban warned that “we can anticipate future flare-ups of Ebola in the coming year”.<\/p>\n
“But we also expect the potential and frequency of those flare-ups to decrease over time,” he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, WHO chief Margaret Chan said the virus could persist in some Ebola survivors even after their full recovery.<\/p>\n
“By the end of this year, we expect that all survivors will have cleared the virus from their bodies,” Ms Chan was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
She also described the next three months as “the most critical” for the three West African nations.<\/p>\n
Source:BBC:[Liberia to be declared Ebola-free, ending world outbreak->http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-35308743]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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