The body of a woman who died in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the Ebola virus, less than a week after the last person confirmed to have had the disease was released from hospital.
The new death, which occurred in Sierra Leone's Kambia district, along the border with Guinea would represent a setback in the efforts to end the 18-month regional epidemic which has infected more than 28,000 people with more than a third of them dead.
The head of communications at the country's Ebola Response Centre said the woman worked as a trader, though people who knew her said she had not travelled recently. He said with vigilance, Ebola can potentially be eradicated.
The woman's death now becomes the first new case in the country since August the 8th..
Sierra Leone released what had been its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital last Monday and began a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus.
The 35 year-old survivor had responded well to treatment and received her second negative test result on the 23rd of August before her release the following day, which was marked by a ceremony attended by country's President, Ernest Bai Koroma.
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