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A scanning
electron micrograph of the Ebola virus. Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith | CDC; Image source: livescience.com
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Survivors of Ebola are
being encouraged to use condoms until there is a better understanding of a
study that showed the virus lingers in semen for up to nine
months. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has said sexual transmission of Ebola
is "rare" and pointed to areas of Sierra Leone that have
very high numbers of survivors and yet have had no recurrences.
But WHO
head Margaret Chan told the BBC there were still questions: "Does
it mean they are still infectious or are they just fragments? We don't have the
definitive evidence yet. The
degree of uncertainty is worrying, that's why we need to take precautionary
measures, so we advise survivors to take protection through
contraception."
