SUMMARY
- There were 0 confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) reported in the week to July: 18 in Guinea, 3 in Liberia, and 9 in Sierra Leone. Although this is the highest weekly total since mid - May, improvements to case investigation and contact tracing, together with enhanced incentives to encourage case reporting and compliance with quarantine measures have led to a better understanding of chains of transmission than was the case a month ago. This, in turn, has resulted in a decreasing proportion of cases arising from as - yet unknown sources of infection (5 of 30 cases in the week to 5 July) , particularly in previously problematic areas such as Boke and Forecariah in Guinea, and Kambia and Port Loko in Sierra Leone. However, significant challenges remain. A residual lack of trust in the response among some affected communities means that some cases still evade detection for too long, increasing the risk of further hidden transmission. The exportation of cases to densely populated urban areas such as Freetown and Conakry remains a risk, whilst the origin of the new cluster of cases in Liberia is not yet well understood.
- In Guinea, cases were reported from the same prefectures — Boke, C onakry, and Forecariah — that reported cases the previous week. The northern prefecture of Boke, which borders Guinea - Bissau, reported 6 cases, compared with 10 the previous week. All but one of these cases was a registered contact, with a single case reported to have arisen from an as - yet unknown source of infection . The single case reported from Conakry came from the Matam commune (municipal district) of the city, and was a known contact of a previous case from Benty sub - prefecture in Forecariah . The remaining 11 cases were reported from the prefecture of Forecariah, 9 of which were reported from the sub - prefecture of Benty. All but 2 of the 11 cases reported from Forecariah were known contacts of a previous case or have an established epidemiological link to one.
- Liberia was declared free of Ebola transmission on 9 May 2015, after reporting no new cases for 42 consecutive days. The country subsequently entered a 3 - month period of heightened surveillance, during which approximately 0 blood samples and oral swabs are collected each day from potential cases and tested for EVD. On 29 June, this routine surveillance detected a confirmed case of EVD in Margibi County, Liberia — the first new confirmed case reported from the country since 20 March. The case was a 17 - year - old male who first became ill on 21 June, died on 28 June, and subsequently tested positive for EVD. Two contacts of the first - detected case have since been confirmed as EVD - positive.
These additional cases are from the same small community as the first - detected case, and are now being treated in an Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in the capital, Monrovia. In addition, a probable case is in isolation at an ETC. The case has a strong epidemiological link to the first - detected case and is showing some symptoms of EVD, but has indeterminate test results for EVD. The origin of infection of th e cluster of case s is currently under investigation. At present, these cases are considered to constitute a separate outbreak from that which was declared over on 9 May.
- In Sierra Leone,cases were reported from the same districts as the previous weeks : Kambia, Port Loko, and the district that includes the capital, Freetown. One - third () of all cases reported from Sierra Leone arose in the densely populated Magazine Wharf area of Freetown. All 3 cases were registered contacts of a previous case. Four chiefdoms in Kambia each reported a single confirmed case of EVD, as did two chiefdoms in the neighbouring district of Port Loko. All but one of these cases were known contacts of a previous case or have an established epidemiological link to one.