Man's Ebola relapse spawned dozens of new cases in Africa

A man in Africa who developed Ebola despite receiving a vaccine recovered but suffered a relapse nearly six months later that led to 91 new cases before he died. The report adds to evidence that the deadly virus can lurk in the body long after symptoms end, and that survivors need monitoring for their own welfare and to prevent spread.

Relapses like this one from the 2018-2020 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo are thought to be rare. This is the first one clearly shown to have spawned a large cluster of new cases. The New England Journal of Medicine published details on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, scientists said a separate outbreak that’s going on now in Guinea seems related to one in West Africa that ended five years ago. A survivor may have silently harbored the virus for years before spreading it.

“The most important message is, someone can get the disease, Ebola, twice and the second illness can sometimes be worse than the first one,” said Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni of the University of Kinshasha, who helped research the Congo cases.

As more Ebola outbreaks occur, “we are getting more and more survivors” and the risk posed by relapses is growing, he said.

Ebola outbreaks usually start when someone gets the virus from wildlife and it then spreads person to person through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated materials. Symptoms can include sudden fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash and bleeding. Fatality rates range from 25% to 90%.

The case in the medical journal involved a 25-year-old motorcycle taxi driver vaccinated in December 2018 because he’d been in contact with someone with Ebola. In June 2019, he developed symptoms and was diagnosed with the disease.

For some reason, the man never developed...