Health officials said Friday that a woman in Liberia likely contacted Ebola after having non-protected sex with her partner, who survived the deadly disease.
According to USA Today, the 44-year-old woman was diagnosed with the virus last month and her case confused doctors because she did not have any direct contact with patients currently infected. She did, however, have intercourse with a 45-year-old survivor several weeks prior.
What’s more perplexing though is that the man had the disease back in September. The Associated Press noted that scientists knew Ebola could be transmitted through vaginal intercourse, but thought the virus only remained in the semen for around three months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the male survivor had sex with another woman as well recently although she did not test positive for the disease.
This new case of Ebola is the first reported in the country in about a month. Since early last year, the debilitating disease has plagued not only Liberia, but also Guinea and Sierra Leone and sent fears of an outbreak to several other countries.
So far, the virus has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people and sickened thousands of others in the West Africa nations.
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