42 new Ebola cases reported in West Africa: WHO
Xinhuanet.com
2014-04-18
A total of 42 new cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD), including suspected and confirmed cases, were reported in West Africa in the past three days, according to a latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In an EVD status update published Thursday on its website, the WHO says that death toll from the Ebola virus increased from 121 to 137 in the past three days, with most of the new deaths, or 87 percent, reported in Guinea.
The total number of suspected and confirmed EVD cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has jumped from 194 to 236 in the past three days. Most of the new cases came from Guinea and Sierra Leone.
There is still no cure for the deadly Ebola virus disease which has an incubation period between two and 21 days and carries a fatality rate of up to 90 percent.
Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, taking its name from the Ebola River where the DR Congo outbreak was found in a nearby village.
The WHO defines the Ebola virus disease, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, as “a severe, often fatal illness” and “one of the world’s most virulent diseases.”
