WHO: Ebola survivors can spread virus through sex, but not sweat or saliva

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Ebola survivors can transmit the virus through sexual intercourse if it persists in their semen after recovery, but survivors who have met the criteria for discharge from treatment are not expected to pass it on through sweat or saliva, Premium Times reports.

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. “Ebola virus after recovery and for patients with what we call a viral persistence can be transmitted through sexual intercourse,” he said. He said the virus can remain in certain parts of the body after clinical recovery.

Otim said male survivors should get counselling on safer sex and access to condoms after discharge. The WHO recommends safer sex for 12 months where there is no semen-testing programme. Where testing exists, survivors should be tested regularly until they get two consecutive negative results.

On sweat and saliva, he said recovered survivors cannot transmit the virus because it has been cleared from their blood. Patients must have two negative blood tests before discharge. However, people who are still actively ill can transmit Ebola through sweat and other bodily fluids.

The explanation comes amid an outbreak involving the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Kenya. Nigeria confirmed an imported case on 20 October, involving a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja. She was evacuated to Switzerland with her husband on 26 October. The WHO said Nigeria has no active confirmed cases, and authorities continue to monitor contacts.

In the DRC, 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths had been recorded, according to figures released on Tuesday.