The last known Ebola case in Guinea, a three-
week old girl, has recovered from the virus,
the medical charity Doctors Without Borders
(MSF) said Tuesday, starting the countdown
to the end of the epidemic.
An official announcement of the end of Ebola,
which has claimed 2,500 lives throughout the
country, is still some way off as a period of
42 Ebola-free days — twice the incubation
period of the virus — is required.
The baby Ebola patient, whose 25-year-old
mother died of the disease last month, was
treated at the MSF centre in the capital
Conakry and declared cured on Monday.
“Nubia has responded well to the treatment
she received,” said Laurence Sailly, MSF
emergency coordinator in Guinea.
“We are pleased that she has been tested
negative, but as she is the first infected baby
to have recovered, she will continue to receive
specialised medical support before going
back home.”
The current epidemic is the worst ever
outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever which
first surfaced in 1976 in what is now the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the latest toll given by the World
Health Organization (WHO), the epidemic has
left 11,300 dead, mainly in the west African
states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, out
of almost 29,000 cases.
Experts agree that the real death toll is
almost certainly significantly higher than the
official data, which has been skewed by the
under-reporting of deaths in many probable
Ebola cases.
Last week the WHO declared Sierra Leone to
be Ebola free. Liberia was declared to have
beaten the virus in September.
Hopes are high that Guinea will join them,
meaning the tri-nation epicentre of the
outbreak will be in the clear.
Nubia’s family is from Guinea’s Forecariah
prefecture, near the Sierra Leone border, the
last area Ebola-affected area in the country.
“The government and the communities have
worked hard with us to arrive at this result.
We must still remain vigilant for any potential
new cases so that our achievements will not
be destroyed.” Sailly cautioned.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/11/last-known-ebola-case-in-guinea-recovers-msf/