Using genomic analysis, a team of researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health (Africa) and the US Center for Disease Control have discovered that a woman in Liberia contracted the Ebola virus earlier this year after having sex with a male survivor of the disease . The results have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine .
The work has analyzed, in 93 men survivors of Ebola in Sierra Leone , the persistence of the pathogen in body fluids other than blood, establishing the conclusion that specifically the semen still remains infected -with virus genes- after 9 months have passed since the first symptoms of contagion . Semen samples revealed that 65% of the men tested positive at 6 months, 26% at 9 months, and one individual was still positive after 10 months.
According to the WHO, the period of sexual safety should be extended until the semen is negative in two tests for the virus . In addition, sexual partners should also refrain from having any type of sexual contact or having sex in a completely safe way, that is, through the use of condoms. In the event of not being able to perform the test, this body recommends prolonging the use of condoms although, until now, the recommended period was 6 months and it is clear, in light of the results, that these considerations will have to be reformulated and the time of safe sexual contact .
The research data “demonstrate the persistence of virus RNA in semen for longer than previously thought; however, there is no evidence that this positivity is associated with the ability of the virus to infect. Although cases of Ebola by sexual transmission have been registered, the truth is that they are rare. The risk of contagion through this route is little known and is being investigated ”, explain the authors.
The tenacity of the virus, apart from in semen, has also been identified in eye fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, amniotic fluid and breast milk .
