Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found Ebola Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA)/genetic material in the semen of survivors two years after infection. They are calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to update its guidelines on sexual transmission.
Ebola virus RNA can persist in the semen of survivors more than two years after the onset of infection. The research team, which included investigators from Ohio-based Clinical Research Management and the ELWA Hospital in Liberia also observed the detection of Ebola virus RNA in the semen of men who had previously had a negative test of their semen in some cases.
These findings led the study team to suggest revision of the 2016 WHO guidelines relating to the sexual transmission of Ebola, which calls for men who survive Ebola virus disease (EVD) to undertake measures such as abstinence and the use of condoms for at least 12 months after the onset of EVD or until their semen has tested negative for Ebola virus RNA twice. The study results were published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
