Ebola Outbreak: About 48 High Risk Contacts Missing According to WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning the global public that several individuals linked to the most recent cases of Ebola in the African country of Sierra Leone are currently missing, as per The New York Times. About 18 contacts are at high risk of having Ebola.

Ebola is defined as a deadly disease that commonly spread through direct contact with blood or body fluids, medical equipment that have been contaminated with Ebola, infected fruit bats or primates, and possibly from semen from a man who has recovered from the disease, as per the CDC. Symptoms of Ebola include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness and fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained bleeding.

WHO representative Dr. Anders Nordstrom revealed that about 70 people who are under quarantine in the northern districts of Kambia, Port Loko, and Tonkolili, are soon to be released, but over 48 contacts are missing. WHO claims that they will continue to ensure that all Ebola deaths reported are swabbed and tested until June to prevent the spread of the virus.

According to US News & World Report, a young woman had tested positive for Ebola following her death, but she was given a traditional burial because at the time, Ebola was not suspected. Traditional burials involve touching the dead, which puts them at very high risk for Ebola. Her 38-year-old aunt was later found to have Ebola, but is now responding to medical treatment. Four other people are currently being monitored in quarantined homes.

Traditional funerals in Africa have been recognized as a major source of viral transmission during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

"We need to strengthen surveillance efforts to identify and investigate all patients with symptoms meeting the case definition in hospitals and communities and to investigate all deaths in the Kambia District and all districts," Nordstrom said, as per ABC News.

As for those who have been released, they are happy to be among their families and loved ones at last. Business Standard reports that some even took to the streets to celebrate, blasting music and dancing in Magburaka, where 33 people were released from two isolation facilities.

"It is good to breathe fresh air outside quarantine and rejoin friends and relatives to resume normal life," 68-year-old farmer Foday Kandeh, who admits he missed drinking palm wine, shared.

Back in November 2015, Sierra Leone was first declared free from transmission, but almost 4,000 people had lost their lives to Ebola. About 11,300 people were killed in the West African outbreak of Ebola since 2013, which hit the Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea regions.