Ebola Virus Reawakens in Liberia and Kills Seven

The latest update on the West African Ebola virus outbreak comes from Monrovia, Liberia, where seven people have died, according to health officials. These are the first deaths Liberia's capital has recorded since the outbreak began.

Liberia's Ministry of Health has been communicating regularly with the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as neighboring countries to keep them updated on the status of the Ebola virus. The WHO is responsible for sending medical teams and experts into areas that are experiencing breaches in public health to help coordinate and harmonize surveillance and also instill prevention and control activities.

The last update the WHO received from Liberia was on March 30. To that date, the suspected and confirmed case count was at 13, with nine deaths and six laboratory confirmed cases. But now, more than two months later, Liberia has confirmed their first cases since then, in a city where no cases have yet to be documented. Seven people have died including a nurse and four people from the same household.

The cause of this small-scale resurgence, according to Liberia's Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, was an infected woman who came from Sierra Leone. She also died in Monrovia, but not before infecting the people who died in the household, officials believe. Liberia has been proactive on the Ebola virus situation and established a high level National Task Force to lead the response efforts.

But this particular Ebola episode is troubling because Liberia nearly equaled their total number of deaths from the virus in just a few days after fighting it off for months. As of June 10, Liberia told the WHO that they were following up on 11 contacts that were believed to have come into contact with infected people in Sierra Leone. The virus seemingly will not go away, as Guinea and Sierra Leone have witnessed a resurgence in cases and deaths as well in recent weeks.

"As this is a rapidly changing situation, the number of reported cases and deaths, contacts under medical observation and the number of laboratory results are subject to change due to enhanced surveillance and contact tracing activities, ongoing laboratory investigations and consolidation of case, contact and laboratory data," the WHO said of Liberia back in March, in this news release. 

There is no cure for the Ebola virus, so the only way to mitigate its spread is to enact proper precautionary and prevention measures. Liberia is likely to continue such efforts after their capital was infiltrated.