Ebola Virus Passed on to Female Through Sex with Survivor Despite Five Months Passing Since Infection

Ebola survivors can still spread the virus through unprotected sex even five months after being diagnosed and subsequently cured of the deadly disease, health experts revealed.

The finding was made after a woman who likely caught the virus through sex with an Ebola survivor died recently.

Health experts earlier pronounced that the Ebola virus could remain in semen for about three months from the time of infection. But the latest case in West Africa shows that transmission of the virus through sex can occur even five months later.

According to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday, a 44-year-old woman from Liberian capital Monrovia developed headache, weakness, joint pain and nausea on March 14 after having unprotected vaginal sex with a 46-year-old male Ebola survivor on March 7.

The survivor was released from an Ebola treatment unit on Oct. 7 last year and reported no illness or symptoms afterward. He was admitted to the unit the month before.

Another woman, age 45, who had unprotected vaginal sex with the same survivor tested negative for the virus.

Based on the case, health officials are now urging male Ebola survivors to avoid unprotected sex for an indefinite period of time. Previously, male survivors were asked to use condoms for at least three months.

"Previously, C.D.C. and W.H.O. recommended abstinence or condom use for at least three months following recovery from Ebola. However, to prevent transmission of Ebola, contact with semen from male survivors should be avoided," the C.D.C. said in its latest statement.

"If male survivors have sex (oral, vaginal, or anal), a condom should be used correctly and consistently every time until further information is known. Used condoms should be handled and disposed of safely to avoid contact with semen. After handling of condoms, or following any physical contact with semen, skin should be washed thoroughly with soap and water," it added.

The virus is passed on from one person to another through direct contact with the patient's blood or other bodily fluids such as urine, saliva, semen, and sweat.

Surviving patients are not contagious, but there is a chance that there is still some virus remaining in their semen, health experts said.

An investigation on other recent Ebola cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone also showed sexual transmission of the deadly virus from survivors, but these reports have yet to be confirmed.

Only 10 cases of this nature have been reported so far, and it has been hard to prove that sex was the only way the virus was passed on, said C.D.C. spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund.