Ebola -- CDC announces Ebola may be sexually transmitted MONTHS after symptoms are over.

[pnwmom]

This is bad news for survivors and their families.

Survivors are advised to refrain from sex or to use condoms -- indefinitely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/world/africa/signs-ebola-spreads-in-sex-prompt-a-cdc-warning.html?rref=health&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Health&pgtype=Blogs&_r=0

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidelines on Ebola transmission on Sunday night, urging survivors to abstain from all forms of sex or use condoms every time “until more information becomes available,” rather than three months as previously recommended.

The World Health Organization and Liberia have issued similar recommendations in recent weeks. They were acting on evidence suggesting that a Liberian man who recovered from Ebola might have transmitted the virus to his female partner many months later.

Ebola genetic material was found in a semen sample the man provided 175 days after he developed symptoms, 74 days longer than ever before found in a survivor. Scientists in Liberia have compared the genetic sequence of the virus found in the woman, Ruth Tugbah, 44, to partial sequences obtained from the virus in her boyfriend’s semen and in blood samples taken months ago from his potential contacts with Ebola, and found that they matched at several key points.

Thus far, the information is consistent with sexual transmission, scientists said, but not conclusive, and the study is continuing. Researchers at the C.D.C. were also trying to establish whether the sample the man provided contained infectious virus, rather than only harmless genetic material or RNA.

SNIP

[Journeyman]

1. In addition to semen, could other bodily fluids potentially transmit it? . . .

[pnwmom]

2. According to the article they don't know exactly how it's being transmitted, or for how long.

From the article at the OP:

Experts said they had expected sexual transmission of Ebola to be rare. It has not yet been proved, but “cannot be ruled out,” the C.D.C. guidance said. Marburg, a similar virus, is thought to have been transmitted sexually. The World Health Organization, the C.D.C. and the Sierra Leone health ministry are planning a study of survivors intended to help establish the range of time that various body fluids, such as semen, urine and breast milk, tend to contain Ebola after it has been cleared from the blood. That time frame has varied in the small number of survivors previously studied.

[Journeyman]

5. Thanks. Usually I read articles before asking questions. Today was evidently my day to be an idiot…

I appreciate your taking the time to answer.

[pnwmom]

6. No problem at all.

Have a nice day.

[Aerows]

3. Which surprised no one following it

I posted that a long time ago.

It practically lasts up to 7 weeks in those that recovered from it that were fairly healthy - those that got decimated but survived? They will have much more.

[pnwmom]

4. Funny. It surprised the CDC and the WHO, who previously thought

the virus didn't survive more than a few months. That's why, despite whatever you posted a "long time ago," they have made a NEW announcement that the virus may be transmitted "indefinitely." They found a case where it appears to have been transmitted almost half a year later.

[Surya Gayatri]

7. Indefinitely? What a nasty little virus it is. Where's that vaccine?