Liberia's Only Ebola Virus Disease Patient Dies in Monrovia

Monrovia - FrontPageAfrica has gathered that the only confirmed Ebola positive patient in Liberia has died. According to sources, Ruth Tugbeh, 44, who was confirmed positive of the deadly virus on Friday, March 20, putting the gains against Ebola by Liberia at risk of reversal died at about 9:00 AM Liberian time on Friday. The patient was undergoing treatment at the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU) managed by the United States public health service.

Recently providing an update on the patient, Dr. Francis Nah Kateh, Deputy Incident Manager of Liberia Ebola Response Team assured that the condition of the patient was stable and said she is being administered the best treatment. “Her condition is stable, she is receiving the best care, we are making sure that she survives to tell her story”, Dr. Kateh said.

Ruth was transferred from the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) run ELWA-3 Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) near Monrovia to the MMU few days ago. The patient allegedly contracted the virus through sexual intercourse with a male Ebola Survivor but health officials have said the man has gone more than 100 days since surviving from the virus.

Dr. Kateh disclosed on Thursday, March 26, during the week, that another person was showing signs and symptoms of the virus and has been placed into isolation.

Speaking at a news conference at the Ministry of Information, Dr. Kateh said specimen from the contact patient has been taken and the resultant lab information will be publicized. Dr. Kateh emphasized that given the current stage of the health crisis, continual information sharing with the public is essential in alleviating fear and suspicion.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kateh has also disclosed that another suspected Ebola patient was extracted from the Clara Town community on March 23 and taken to an ETU for further medical examination.
According to Dr. Kateh,  the IMS is currently going through active investigation to authenticate the status of the suspected patient as well as find out the primary cause of the recent infection which hampered progress to becoming an Ebola-free nation.

This confirmation by Dr. Kateh means that Liberia now has two suspected and one confirmed Ebola cases, a condition which validates that Liberia still faces threats from the virus that killed over 10,000 people in West Africa.
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FPA Staff Report. "FrontPageAfrica - Liberia's Only Ebola Virus Disease Patient Dies in Monrovia." FrontPageAfrica - Liberia's Only Ebola Virus Disease Patient Dies in Monrovia. March 28, 2015. Accessed March 28, 2015. http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/4807-liberia-only-ebola-patient-dies.

LAST EBOLA PATIENT IN LIBERIA?

The final Ebola patient in Liberia is back home and Ebola-free.

Beatrice Yardolo, 58, spent 16 days in a Chinese Ebola treatment unit, but she returned home today, singing and dancing while her husband looked on and cried. He told ABC News he was so happy that it was overwhelming.

"Words are inadequate to even express how I feel," Steve Yardolo, 61, told ABC News, stopping at times to stare at his wife in awe. "If people could see the inner part of a mind, of an inner being, they would have seen the happiness in me."

The Yardolo family caught the deadly virus from their son, who had been working in another Ebola treatment clinic. Three of their children died in January and February, Yardolo told ABC News. In the days after her foster daughter died, she started to have Ebola symptoms and decided she needed to go to the Ebola treatment unit.

She said the doctors at the Chinese Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia saved her life.

"My walking from here to go to the [Ebola treatment unit] center, it wasn't easy," Yardolo told ABC News. "[My] children crying behind me, 'Don't go! don't go.' I said, ‘If I don't go, it will be bad again.'"

Since the outbreak began in March, the World Health Organization has reported 23,934 Ebola cases and 9792 Ebola deaths in the West African countries where the virus is prominent: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In Liberia, WHO reported 9,249 cumulative cases and 4,117 deaths.

According to WHO, 384 new Ebola cases have been reported in the past 21 days, six of which were in Liberia. And one of them was Yardolo. And if there are no new cases for 42 days, twice the length of the virus's incubation period, Liberia can be declared Ebola-free.

Liberia has 19 Ebola treatment units, and none of them has any confirmed Ebola patients now, said Tolbert Nyenswah, Liberia's assistant minister of public health. The country has gone 13 days so far without any new confirmed cases, he said.

"This is significant progress, and this is why we are celebrating, but Ebola is not out yet," Nyenswah said. "We are not out of the woods yet. We must continue all of the measures, and I said it is now up to the Liberian people to maintain the vigilance. And we sustain ourselves to zero and look at our borders to protect our people from the Ebola crisis."

Yardolo, who has four living children, left the ward surrounded by doctors, nurses and her family that isn't under quarantine. Holding bright-red flowers as she stood before a crowd of onlookers, she thanked God and the Chinese treatment unit.

"So this is what I have to say: Xiexie to the Chinese [Ebola treatment unit]!" she said to a round of applause and smiles.

She'd just said "thank you" in Mandarin.

Please pray that Beatrice is truly, The Last Ebola Patient!

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Doe, Carielle, and Sydney Lupkin. "Last Ebola Patient in Liberia Leaves Treatment Ward." ABC News. March 5, 2015. Accessed March 6, 2015. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-patient-liberia-leaves-treatment-ward/story?id=29413567.