Risks continue: The Ebola epidemic has killed about 5700 people since March. Photo: AFP
Geneva: Sperm can carry the Ebola virus for at least 82 days and the World Health Organization is urging men recovering from the disease to use condoms for three months after the onset of symptoms.
The WHO has released a statement saying that men should “either abstain from sex … or use condoms”.
In four studies, on a total of 43 patients, three men who had recovered from Ebola still had the live virus in their semen 40 days, 61 days and 82 days respectively after the onset of symptoms.
The WHO said that no case of sexual transmission of Ebola had been documented, and that it was unclear whether semen that tests positive for Ebola is actually infectious.
The four studies were carried out in different countries, with the first dating back more than 30 years.
Ebola is highly contagious but, even if a person is infected, the virus can only be passed on once symptoms appear and only through direct contact with their bodily fluids.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, diarrhoea, vomiting and in some cases bleeding.
The biggest Ebola epidemic on record has claimed around 5700 lives since the beginning of the year, according to the WHO – almost all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
AFP