FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone has identified more than 100 contacts of a new Ebola case that emerged in the West African nation's north last week, and 28 of those people are at high risk, officials have said.
Swabs
from a 22-year-old woman who died last week tested positive for Ebola, Sierra
Leone authorities said Friday. The case came a day after the World Health
Organization declared the outbreak over in West Africa.
At
least 28 high risk contacts have been placed under quarantine, and the
remaining 109 contacts are being assessed, he said. Three
known contacts are missing, National Coordinator of Office of National
Security, Ishmael Tarawallie, said over the weekend.
"We
are worried and concerned about this new development," Tarawallie said
Saturday of the new case, adding that the woman's death came as Sierra Leone
was entering its 68th day of 90 days of heightened surveillance. "It was
not unexpected that a flare-up was possible."
Nearly
4,000 people died before Sierra Leone was first declared free from transmission
Nov. 7. Ebola has killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in Sierra Leone,
Liberia and Guinea, since this outbreak emerged in late 2013.
The
young woman sought outpatient medical attention in the Northern Tonkolili
District on Jan. 6 and died Jan. 12, he said. She also consulted an herbalist,
he said.
Government
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo said "the patient (victim) went to
the hospital with no visible signs of Ebola," she had no fever or redness
of the eyes, and only some signs of dizziness.
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