More than four years after the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, scientists are still uncovering sobering new information about the lasting effects of the virus on survivors.
A new study describes a Liberian woman, 33, who survived an Ebola infection during the 2014-2015 epidemic and then, one year later, apparently infected her husband and two of their sons. One son, 15, died. The husband, 40, and the other son, 8, recovered.
The study, in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, is the first indication of transmission from a female Ebola survivor, highlighting the risk for a resurgence of cases. The epidemic killed 11,000 out of more than 28,000 people made sick, across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
A few cases have been reported of sexual transmission from the semen of male survivors; there has also been one report suggesting that the virus spread through a survivor's breast milk. Researchers aren't sure how the woman infected her husband and sons. During the epidemic, family members became infected by cleaning a sick person's waste or washing linens or sharing utensils.
One of the biggest mysteries has been recurrent disease in survivors. After recovery, Ebola particles have been detected in semen, breast milk, spinal fluid and the inside of the eye.
