Even after surviving Ebola, experts now believe that the disease can still be passed on many months later via unprotected sexual intercourse

A case in West Africa has shown that the virus can live in semen for five months after infection, when scientists originally believed it could only live as long as three.

Even after surviving Ebola, experts now believe that the disease can still be passed on many months later via unprotected sexual intercourse.

A case in West Africa has shown that the virus can live in semen for five months after infection, when scientists originally believed it could only live as long as three.

A recent report gives the details of case of a 44-year-old Liberian woman whose infection likely came from a 46-year-old man who had Ebola symptoms last September. She fell ill in March, a week after sex with him, and died. Another woman he had sex with around the same time tested negative.

The Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with an Ebola patient’s blood or other bodily fluids like urine, saliva, semen and sweat. Once patients recover, health officials say they aren’t contagious except there’s a chance it could still be in semen.

Investigations of other recent Ebola cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have pointed to sexual transmission from survivors, but those have not been confirmed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

There have been fewer than 10 such cases, said CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund. It’s been difficult to pinpoint that sex was the only way they may have been infected, she added.

In Guinea, Dr. Sakoba Keita, the national coordinator for Ebola response, said a woman in the southeastern town of Macenta contracted Ebola after having unprotected sex with her husband. For the past month, officials have recommended all survivors use condoms until more is known.

“We give a kit containing a condom,” to all survivors leaving the treatment center, he said.