Ebola may be sexually transmitted, WHO warns

The World Health Organisation has issued an interim advice on the possibility of Ebola Virus of being sexually transmitted, Punch reports. 

The WHO had directed all Ebola survivors and their sexual partners to receive counseling to guard against possible transmission of the disease.

This is contained in a statement made available by WHO to newsmen in Lagos on Saturday.

It indicated that the sexual transmission of the Ebola Virus had yet to be established.
WHO said, “The sexual transmission of the Ebola Virus from males to females is a strong possibility, but has not yet been proven; less probable, but theoretically possible.

“Studies have shown that Ebola virus can be isolated from semen up to 82 days after symptom onset.

“A recent case investigation identified genetic material (RNA) from the virus by nucleic acid amplification tests (such as RT-PCR) 199 days after symptom onset.

“This is well beyond the period of virus detecting ability in the blood of survivors and long after recovery from illness.

“The detection of virus genetic material many months after symptom onset is assumed to reflect the continuing, or at least very recent, presence of live and potentially transmissible Ebola virus.”

More surveillance data and research are needed on the risks of sexual transmission and particularly on the prevalence of viable and transmissible virus in semen over time, WHO said.