Ebola: Survivors can transmit virus through sex, but not sweat or saliva – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has explained that Ebola survivors may transmit the virus through sexual intercourse if it persists in their semen after recovery. In contrast, survivors who have met the criteria for discharge from treatment are not expected to transmit the virus through sweat or saliva.

Patrick Otim, programme area manager for emergency response at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, explained this in a video answering questions about the virus.

Mr Otim said male survivors should receive counselling on safer sex practices and access to condoms after discharge from treatment centres. He said they should undergo regular semen testing until they obtain two consecutive negative results.

“Ebola virus after recovery and for patients with what we call a viral persistence can be transmitted through sexual intercourse,” he said.

He explained that the virus could remain in certain parts of the body after clinical recovery, posing a risk of transmission through infected semen.

The WHO recommends that male survivors practise safer sex for 12 months in the absence of a semen-testing programme. Where testing is available, they should undergo regular testing until two consecutive negative results are obtained.

Sweat and saliva

Mr Otim said survivors who had recovered and been discharged from treatment centres could not transmit the virus through sweat or saliva because the virus would have been cleared from their blood.

He said patients were required to have two negative blood tests before discharge, adding that survivors who had met the discharge criteria could not transmit the virus through these fluids.

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However, he warned that people who were still actively ill could transmit Ebola through sweat and other bodily fluids.

Outbreak raises concerns

The explanation comes amid an ongoing Ebola outbreak involving the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Kenya.

Nigeria confirmed an imported case on 20 October. The patient, a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja, was evacuated to Switzerland with her husband on 26 October.

Although the WHO said Nigeria had no active confirmed cases after the evacuation, health authorities continued monitoring contacts and implementing containment measures.

In the DRC, the outbreak has recorded 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths, according to figures released on Tuesday by the country’s Ministry of Public Health.