According to a new research, Ebola in male survivors can survive up to 9 months although researchers are not sure whether it might still be infectious or not.
The study involving 93 men in Sierra Leone was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them.
Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months.
Dr. Nathalie Broutet, an expert in sexually transmitted diseases at the World Health Organization and one of the study’s authors said “We think there is a potential risk of exposure but we cannot determine that with 100 percent certainty right now.”
WHO says it’s unknown how long Ebola survives in vaginal fluid, and says it’s less probable that a woman who has survived Ebola could spread it to a man through sex.
Dr. Francis Moses, a district medical officer in northern Sierra Leone added that survivors cant be asked to abstain from sex.
He said “The abstinence thing isn’t working. If we don’t find a way of addressing this, we will never stop Ebola.”
Meanwhile a Chinese firm is planning to mass produce a military-developed vaccine against Ebola