CDC tells Ebola Patients to Abstain From Sex, Use Condoms
ATLANTA, GA – April 20, 2015 (UPI) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control this weekend changed its guidelines to encourage Ebola patients to abstain from sex or always use condoms to prevent transmission, even after recovery.
The health organization said scientists are currently studying weather the virus can be transmitted through sexual contact and since it can’t be ruled out, patients should practice caution.
“Those who do have sex should use a condom correctly and consistently every time they have sex,” the CDC website says.
The recommendation comes on the heels of similar statements from the World Health Organization and the government of Liberia, The New York Times reported. That recommendation was prompted after the girlfriend of a Liberian man who had Ebola also came down the virus months later.
A study of the man’s semen found the same genetic sequence of the virus that was also found in the woman 175 days after the man first developed symptoms. That’s 74 days longer than the virus has been detected in a survivor previously.
