Ebola Virus News Update 2015: Woman Has Sex With Survivor, Gets Disease

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A woman, 44, from Monrovia, Liberia caught the Ebola virus after having unprotected sex with a man who was a survivor of the disease. According to UK Daily Mail, this is the only confirmed case where the viral infection was caught via semen. Doctors have long known that Ebola can be caught through seminal fluid exchange but because of this case, it is suggested that the virus survived for twice as long in the body than the regular limit.

The Ebola survivor was infected on September 9 last year and was admitted to a treatment facility on September 23. He was then released on October 7 after his test showed negative for the virus. The Monrovian woman was admitted last March 17 and was officially diagnosed on March 20, indicating that the virus may have been passed from the Ebola survivor after having unprotected sexual intercourse.

The report from CDC says that they "found no history of travel by [the Monrovian woman] patient A, no interaction with visitors from Sierra Leone or Guinea, no recent funeral attendance, and no contact with a person with symptoms consistent with Ebola."

"Patient A did report unprotected vaginal intercourse on March 7, 2015, with an Ebola survivor (survivor A), a man aged 46 years from another community in Monrovia," the report stated.

In the same report, the Ebola survivor also "reported recent unprotected vaginal intercourse with a woman aged 45 years (contact A) with no history of illness. Intercourse with contact A occurred on three to five occasions between the last week of February and March 15, 2015. A blood specimen collected from contact A on March 27, 2015 was negative for Ebola virus-specific IgG and IgM." However, the woman tested negative for Ebola virus.

According to Inquisitr, some publications reported the 44-year-old Monrovian woman died but the CDC report did not confirm the news.

The CDC and US health officials are cautioning against unprotected sexual intercourse with Ebola survivors. The department is currently conducting further investigation to know how long the virus can remain in the bodies of the survivors and how likely it would be passed on via intercourse.

While the disease isn't confirmed to be possibly passed on through sexual transmission, the CDC recommends that male survivors use a condom every time they choose to have oral, vaginal, or anal sex, Fox News reports.