Six cases of Ebola have surfaced in Liberia in the two months since the nation was declared free of the deadly virus, raising fears the disease lingers in the human body in ways not fully understood. The six new infections since June 21 include two deaths.
The strain that resurfaced in Liberia does not appear to be genetically similar to those in Sierra Leona and Guinea, suggesting the new infections are not the result of cross-border contamination. Instead, the strain in Liberia is similar to one that circulated in that country last year, according to the WHO. “Preliminary evidence from genomic sequencing strongly suggests that the most likely origin of transmission is a re-emergence of the virus from a survivor within Liberia,” the WHO reported Wednesday.
