GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. health agency officially declared an end Friday to the Ebola outbreak in Senegal, a rare bit of good news amid the public outcry and fear over the deadly disease that remains out of control in three West African countries.
The World Health Organization said it “commends the country on its diligence to end the transmission of the virus,” citing Senegal’s quick and thorough response.
Cases are still spreading in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, with more than 4,500 deaths.
A case of Ebola in Senegal was confirmed on Aug. 29 in a young man who had travelled by road to Dakar from Guinea, where he had direct contact with an Ebola patient. By September 5, laboratory samples from the patient tested negative, indicating that he had recovered from Ebola. He was able to return to Guinea on Sept. 18.
The declaration from WHO came because Senegal made it past the 42-day mark, which is twice the maximum incubation period for Ebola, without detecting more such cases.