Ebola returns as new fears centre on dog meat

Liberia declared itself ebola-free only two months ago
Liberia declared itself ebola-free only two months ago
DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The deadly ebola outbreak which has killed more than 11,000 people has returned to Liberia, almost two months after the country was declared free of the virus.

A 17-year-old boy has died and two others have tested positive amid fears that they may have contracted the disease from eating dog meat, in a village 30 miles north of the capital, Monrovia.

The cases are a major setback for international efforts to contain the haemorrhagic fever, which has infected more than 22,000 people in the deadliest outbreak since it was discovered almost 40 years ago, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Dogs were not known to carry the virus, but at the height of the outbreak last year they were seen scavenging on the corpses