Liberia said Wednesday a teenager who died of Ebola fever had spread the virus to at least two more people, confirming the first outbreak of the tropical disease for months.
Health officials told AFP the infected pair had been in physical contact with the 17-year-old victim before his death on Sunday in a village near the country's international airport, around an hour's drive southeast of Monrovia.
"One hundred and two contacts have been identified, although that number is expected to increase as investigations continue," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest report on the epidemic.
"At this stage the origin of infection is not known. The case reportedly had no recent history of travel, contact with visitors from affected areas, or funeral attendance."
Cestus Tarpeh, a spokesman for the health department where the boy died, confirmed the two new patients had tested positive and said the authorities were awaiting the results of further blood tests on other contacts.
The news came a day after Health Minister Bernice Dahn announced the first Ebola infection in Liberia for more than three months, warning that it was "likely that we will find additional cases".
Authorities have warned that a herbalist who treated the boy had evaded the authorities and was on the run.
Moses Massaquoi, the head of the Liberian government's Ebola crisis management department, said 14 conventional health workers among the identified contacts had placed themselves in voluntary quarantine.
The new outbreak comes with the country still reeling from a nightmarish epidemic which wrecked its health service and economy and left 4,800 Liberians dead.
Before the new cases Liberia had reported its last victim on March 20 and was declared Ebola-free on May 9.
'So scared'
Neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone are both still battling the epidemic, which has killed more than 11,200 people in 18 months across west Africa.
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