Man who survived Ebola five years ago may have transmitted it through semen in Guinea

In a shocking discovery, it has been revealed that Guinea's recent Ebola outbreak has been spread from a man who had survived the deadly virus five years ago. 

Scientists have concluded that the Guinea outbreak has definitely been spread from someone who survived the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa.

Also read | Ebola toll hits four in DR Congo

The man who had survived the Ebola virus five years ago had transmitted the virus via semen to a sex partner, reports claimed.

This has been decoded through genetic sequencing of virus samples taken from patients of the current Ebola outbreak. Being described as a 'stunner', this virus is known to usually last for 500 days.

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"Ebolaviruses aren’t herpesviruses (which are known to cause long-lasting infections) and generally RNA viruses don’t just hang around not replicating at all," Virologist Angela Rasmussen of Georgetown University told Science magazine.

Three independent groups are studying samples of four people who have been infected by the Ebola virus in Guinea found out that the genetic makeup of these samples is not very different from the ones of the previous strain that was seen in 2014-2016 outbreak of the virus in West Africa.

The genome analysis has also proved that the virus has not been transmitted from animals to humans, but has moved from humans to humans through semen.

It also revealed that the virus can remain in human body for extended periods in "immune privileged" parts of the body such as spinal cord, brain and eyes.