Africa

WHO moves to control Ebola virus across Guinea

358058_Ebola-virusThe World Health Organization (WHO) has set out on a series of emergency measures to control the Ebola virus that has so far killed more than 100 people in Guinea.

The measures, which were launched in the Guinean capital of Conakry on Thursday, include training 70 people who will track those who had contact with the sick across the country.

The UN agency is also opening a special operation center in the Guinean Health Ministry to handle all matters related to the Ebola scare.

Latest WHO figures show that 157 people have been infected with the deadly virus in Guinea. At least 101 of them have died.

Ebola has also killed ten people in neighboring Liberia where 21 cases have been identified.

Meanwhile, a Canadian-based humanitarian organization working in Liberia said that an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus was spreading rapidly across the West Africa.

“This fear is prompting people to run away from medical care. So, once they develop the symptoms instead of going to the hospital and identifying themselves, they cross borders to New Guinea, which makes it extremely difficult to follow up on them,” media outlets quoted a spokesman for the organization as saying on Thursday.

Guinea neighbors have sent health teams to border territories and introduced measures to prevent the spread of Ebola.

The disease is highly contagious and leads to external and internal bleeding.

Ebola is one of the most contagious viral diseases often resulting in death. The virus cannot be prevented with a vaccine and is untreatable with medication.

The deadly viral infection, which is spread by close contact, was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo — then known as Zaire — in 1976. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for Ebola and the disease kills up to 90 percent of its victims who suffer extensive internal and external bleeding.

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