For the study, the research team tested the semen of 149 Ebola survivors from Monrovia, Liberia. Testing occurred between 260 and 1,016 days after Ebola onset. In total, 13 men tested positive for Ebola virus over the study period. Eleven tested positive for the virus two years after the onset of illness.
“Our finding of long term persistence and intermittent detection of viral RNA in semen suggests we need to change how we think about Ebola as it is no longer only an acute illness, but also one with potential long-term effects,” said William Fischer II, MD, an assistant professor in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the study’s co-author. “It is becoming clear that in some survivors, evidence of the virus can linger in the male genital tract for long periods of time with important potential implications for transmission.”
The team’s findings spurred them to recommend revision of the World Health Organization guidelines regarding the sexual transmission of Ebola, which advises men who’ve survived an Ebola infection to use condoms or remain abstinent for 12 months after the onset of the virus.
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