A woman who died of Ebola this week in Sierra Leone potentially
exposed at least 27 other people to the disease, according to an aid
agency report, raising the risk of more cases just as the deadliest
epidemic on record appeared to be ending.
Just a day ago the
World Health Organization declared that "all known chains of
transmission have been stopped in West Africa", meaning that the region
was officially free of the disease after a two-year epidemic that
killed more than 11,300 people.
It warned, however, of potential flare-ups, as survivors can carry the virus for months.
The
new case in Sierra Leone on Friday is especially disquieting because
authorities failed to follow basic health protocols, according to the
report compiled by a humanitarian agency that asked not to be named.
The
victim, a 22-year-old female named Mariatu Jalloh, began showing
symptoms at the beginning of the year, though the exact date is
unknown, the report states.
A student in Port Loko, the largest
town in Sierra Leone's Northern Province, Jalloh travelled to Bamoi
Luma near the border with Guinea in late December.
Sierra Leone's
northern border area, a maze of waterways, was one of the country's
last Ebola hot spots before it was declared Ebola-free on November 7,
and contact tracing was sometimes bedevilled by access problems.
By
the time she travelled back to her parents' home in Tonkolili
district, east of the capital Freetown, using three different taxis,
Jalloh had diarrhoea and was vomiting, the report said. She was nursed
by members of a household of 22 people.
She sought treatment at a
local hospital on January 8 where a health worker, who did not wear
protective clothing, took a blood sample.
It was not immediately clear whether the sample was tested for Ebola.
She was treated as an outpatient and returned home, where she died on January 12.
Health workers took a swab test of Jalloh's body following her death which tested positive for Ebola.
Asked
about apparent errors in handling the case, Sierra Leone health
ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis said that the patient had been
tested for the virus and had received treatment in a government
hospital.
He did not give further details.
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