Conakry (AFP) - Guinea identified the Ebola
virus Saturday as the source of a highly contagious epidemic raging
through its southern forests, as the death toll rose to 59.
Experts in the west African nation had been unable to identify
the disease, whose symptoms -- diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding -- were
first observed six weeks ago, but scientists studying samples in the
French city of Lyon confirmed it was Ebola, the Guinean health ministry
said.
"The Ebola fever epidemic raging in southern Guinea, including
the prefectures of Gueckedou and Macenta, since February 9 has left at
least 59 dead out of 80 cases identified by our services on the ground,"
said Sakoba Keita, the ministry's chief disease prevention officer.
"We are overwhelmed in the field, we are fighting against this
epidemic with all the means we have at out disposal with the help of our
partners but it is difficult. But we will get there," he told AFP.
To date, no treatment or vaccine is available for Ebola, which
kills between 25 and 90 percent of those who fall sick, depending on the
strain of the virus, according to the World Health Organisation.
The disease is transmitted by direct contact with blood, faeces
or sweat, or by sexual contact or unprotected handling of contaminated
corpses.
Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a
statement it would strengthen its team of 24 doctors, nurses,
logisticians and experts in hygiene and sanitation already in Guinea.
The organisation has set up isolation units for suspected cases
in the southern region of Nzerekore and is looking for people who may
have had contact with the infected.
"These structures are essential to prevent the spread of the
disease, which is highly contagious," said MSF tropical medicine adviser
Esther Sterk said.
"Specialised staff are providing care to patients showing signs of infection."
MSF said it was sending around 33 tonnes of medicines and
isolation, sanitation and protective equipment in two planes leaving
from Belgium and France.
Ebola, one of the world's most virulent diseases, was first
discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1976 and the
country has had eight outbreaks.
The most recent epidemic, in the DRC, infected 62 people and left
34 dead between May and November 2012, according to the country's
health ministry.
There are fears it could be used in a biological weapons attack.
According to researchers, the virus multiplies quickly, overwhelming the immune system's ability to fight the infection.
The French embassy in the Liberian capital Monrovia released a
travel advisory warning French citizens against travel to the affected
parts of Guinea or areas of northern Liberia near the border between the
countries.
It said anyone who had to travel to southern Guinea should
"strictly respect the hygiene rules, not consume the meat of animals
killed by hunting and stay away from areas of high density of population
like markets and football grounds".
A medic in Monrovia told AFP on condition of anonymity that Liberia was at considerable risk from the disease.
"We have a 90 percent chance of having cases in Monrovia because
about 80 percent of goods on the Liberian market come from Guinea," he
said.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đ
Ebola 'a regional threat' as contagion hits Guinea capital
Guinea's capital Conakry was on high alert Friday after a deadly Ebola epidemic which has killed dozens in the southern forests was confirmed to have spread to the port city of up to two million people.
Ebola 'a regional threat' as contagion hits Guinea capital
Guinea's capital Conakry was on high alert Friday after a deadly Ebola epidemic which has killed dozens in the southern forests was confirmed to have spread to the port city of up to two million people.
[link to www.google.com]
What has happened to this site? Is this place dying? I think so, your updates on very important issues are lacking. Dakar Senegal for example, this nasty disease has spread further than any other ebola outbreak, it's now in 2 different capitals that have airports....get it!? Incubation period 2-21 days, this is serious, but not here, not on this site, all is well
Yup..Here it is..Yes I know Been Quiet here lately.
The Ebola virus had reached Dakar. The information was shared by the former Liberal minister Gaye on his facebook page.
18664_babacar_gaye_pds According to him, "The Ebola virus was detected very early this morning at the port of Dakar!" Appellant and to widely disseminate information to prevent rapid spread.
Ghanaâs lawmakers have called for an âurgentâ national preparation to forestall possible outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the country. [link to www.ghanaweb.com]
Guinea's government has for the first time confirmed cases of the deadly Ebola virus in the capital Conakry.
Until now, the 66 confirmed deaths have only been in rural areas, although there have been suspected cases, which have since proved negative, in the capital.
There have also been suspected cases in neighbouring West African states Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.
Earlier this week, the health ministry banned the sale and
consumption of bats, in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. Fruit
bats, which are a delicacy in the worst affected south-eastern region,
are thought to be carriers of the disease.
Yup..Here it is..Yes I know Been Quiet here lately.
The Ebola virus had reached Dakar. The information was shared by the former Liberal minister Gaye on his facebook page.
18664_babacar_gaye_pds According to him, "The Ebola virus was detected very early this morning at the port of Dakar!" Appellant and to widely disseminate information to prevent rapid spread.
This is getting pretty serious, and with all the talk of the problems in the world, economically, militarily, what a great time for a "release" of something to distract and too really get the agend 21 rolling.
Yup..Here it is..Yes I know Been Quiet here lately.
The Ebola virus had reached Dakar. The information was shared by the former Liberal minister Gaye on his facebook page.
18664_babacar_gaye_pds According to him, "The Ebola virus was detected very early this morning at the port of Dakar!" Appellant and to widely disseminate information to prevent rapid spread.
This is getting pretty serious, and with all the talk of the problems in the world, economically, militarily, what a great time for a "release" of something to distract and too really get the agend 21 rolling.
For this disease to spread at the speed its currently moving, and for some patients testing negative (example the guy inCanada), have we a different strain? Is it the Zaire strain on steroids? Has it gone airborne? For it to spread like it is, seems a possibility!
Threatwatch is your early warning system for global dangers, from nuclear peril to deadly viral outbreaks. Debora MacKenzie highlights the threats to civilisation â and suggests solutions
Ebola, the deadly haemorrhagic fever made famous by the film Outbreak,
has broken out in the West African state of Guinea, a first for that
country. So far it has killed 59 of the 86 people known to be infected.
The outbreak is a terrible tragedy for
those people and their loved ones, and of serious concern to anyone who
has come into close contact with an infected person, but how scary is it
for the wider world? Right now, not that scary, but that could change.
As equatorial Africa is increasingly urbanised, it could provide the
conditions for the virus to evolve into something just as deadly and
much more contagious.
comment: That is a 58% CFR. While some areas in Africa have experienced 100% fatality in villages made famous by the film Outbreak even that percentage is bad with a disease that is highly contagious and is spreading in Canada.
(Reuters) - Senegal closed its land border with Guinea on Saturday to
try to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, which Guinean authorities
say is suspected of killing 70 people in what would be the deadliest
outbreak in seven years.
The discovery of 11 people
suspected to have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia in recent
days has stirred concern that one of the most lethal infectious diseases
known to man could spread in a poor corner of West Africa, where health
systems are ill-equipped to cope.
Senegal's
Interior Ministry said it had closed the land border with Guinea in the
southern region of Kolda and the southeastern region of Kedougou.
"The
governors of these regions have taken all the necessary steps to
implement this decision," it said in a statement published by the
official APS state news agency.
A
spokesman for Guinea's government said it had not received any official
notification of Senegal's decision. The extent of the epidemic is being
exaggerated and only 19 cases of Ebola have officially been confirmed by
laboratory tests, he added.
"We've taken strict measures to stop this epidemic and there is no reason to panic," Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters.
Senegal
announced on Friday it would introduce sanitary checks on flights
between Dakar and the Guinean capital Conakry, where eight cases of
Ebola have been confirmed, including one death.
West
African foreign ministers said at a conference in Ivory Coast this week
the Ebola outbreak posed a "threat to regional security".
If
the 70 deaths to date are all confirmed as Ebola, it would be the most
deadly epidemic since 187 people died in Luebo, in Congo's Kasai
Orientale province, in 2007.
"STRICT HYGIENE MEASURES"
The
vast majority of the cases in Guinea have been detected in the
country's remote southeast, near the border with Sierra Leone and
Liberia. It took authorities nearly six weeks to identify it as Ebola,
allowing the virus to spread.
The
arrival of the disease this week in the capital Conakry, where hundreds
of thousands of people live tightly packed in rambling shanties, marked a
sharp increase in the population at risk compared with the sparsely
populated villages of the forested interior.
Sakoba
Keita, head of the prevention division of Guinea's Health Ministry,
said there was no cause for alarm in Conakry as the spread of Ebola
could be tackled by simple sanitary steps such as regular hand washing
and the quarantine of victims.
"There
have been delays in applying certain measures in our health system,"
Keita told a news conference, noting six medical staff were among those
killed by the disease. "From today, strict hygiene measures will be
observed in our hospitals."
There
is no vaccine and no known cure for Ebola, which initially induces
fever, headaches, muscle pain and weakness. In its more acute phase,
Ebola causes vomiting, diarrhoea and external bleeding that carry the
virus outside victims' bodies and threaten to infect anyone who touches
them.
Ebola has killed more than
1,500 people since it was first recorded in 1976 in what is now
Democratic Republic of Congo, but this is the first fatal outbreak in
West Africa.
Guinea is deploying a
mobile laboratory to the southern region of Gueckedou to speed up
identification of the disease and to test samples from Sierra Leone and
Liberia.
(Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đ
Guinea orders ban on eating bat meat as West Africa's first Ebola outbreak spreads to capital
Guinea has ordered
that people stop eating bat meat in a bid to halt the spread of Ebola -
one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to man - as 70 people
die in its first outbreak in West Africa
People in front of the Ignace Deen hospital in Conakry Photo: AFP/GETTY
By Reuters
11:34AM GMT 29 Mar 2014
Authorities inGuinea
are trying to halt the spread of Ebola in the capital, as the health
ministry identified five suspected cases of a deadly virus outbreak that is
estimated to have already killed 70 people.
Officials said that five cases of Ebola had been detected in Conakry, a city
of more than two million people, some 185 miles from the previous infections
in the West African country's remote southeast. One elderly man died and
four male relatives were quarantined.
Authorities in Guinea have launched an investigation into the movements of the
infected men in Conakry and steps are being taken to deal with anyone who
came into contact with them, the government said in a statement.
The arrival of the disease in the capital, where hundreds of thousands of
people live tightly packed in rambling shanties, could mark a sharp increase
in the population at risk compared with the sparsely populated villages of
the forested interior.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, 11 more people have died from
suspected Ebola, stirring concern that one of the most lethal infectious
diseases known to man could be spreading in an impoverished region
ill-equipped to cope.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đ
>comment: That is a 58% CFR. While some areas in Africa have experienced 100% fatality in villages made famous by the film Outbreak even that percentage is bad with a disease that is highly contagious and is spreading in Canada.Â
Did I miss something critical??? I thought Canada's suspected case tested negative? http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/25/health/canada-possible-ebola-case/index.html
Ebola, one of the world's most deadly viruses, has spread from a remote forested corner of southern Guinea to the country's seaside capital, raising fears that the disease, which causes severe bleeding and almost always death, could spread far beyond this tiny West African nation's borders.
In the first outbreak of its kind Guinea, Ebola already has killed at least 70 people including one man whose family brought him to Conakry, the capital, for medical treatment. Now six of his relatives and two others exposed to him are being kept in isolation at a hospital.
Health officials warn that the arrival of Ebola in this sprawling city of some 2 million people with an international airport could spell disaster. Among the poorest countries in the world, Guinea has severely limited medical facilities and a large population living in slums where the virus could spread quickly.
"Poor living conditions and lack of water and sanitation in most parts of Conakry poses a serious risk of this epidemic spiralling into a crisis," said Ibrahima Toure, country director for the aid group Plan International.
Panic already has grown among residents since the government announced the Conakry cases late Thursday on national television. While most days up to 300 patients seek treatment at Donka Hospital, less than 100 came on Friday as news spread that the Ebola patients were being quarantined there.
"My daughter is sick and coughing but I prefer to keep her at home. I wouldn't set foot inside Donka Hospital for anything in the world right now," said Djalikatou Balde, a teacher.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Medclinician Where in the world are you getting information that Ebola is spreading in Canada??? I live in this city and that is simply not true! I get that sharing ideas and expressing opinion is important on this forum but.... Maybe a simple mistake?
Regarding the above question, there was a man in Canada who was suspected of having Ebola, but he tested negative. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26726745
Guinea has banned the sale and consumption of bats to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, its health minister has said. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26735118
I live in the small Canadian city (less than 300,000) where this man is being treating so believe me, we have all been watching the story carefully here.
I also have been following what has been transpiring in southern and coastal Guinea.
The Canadian was admitted to hospital a week ago and was tested almost immediately. The public was informed during a press conference on Tuesday that Ebola as well as other hemorrhagic viruses had been ruled out.
I read today on AFT that Ebola is spreading in Canada. Imagine my surprise!,
Readers should know that that information posted by Medclincian yesterday is absolutely not true and unfounded. I am assuming it was just an error on Medclinican's part.
Ebola outbreak in Guinea 'unprecedented' - MSF A health worker in protective clothing at one of the sites of the outbreak in Guinea - 31 March 2014 It took authorities in Guinea six weeks to identify the disease Continue reading the main story
The Ebola outbreak that has killed 78 people in Guinea is "unprecedented", a medical charity has said.
An official with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the spread of the disease across the country made it very difficult to control.
The West African state is facing a battle to contain the outbreak after cases were reported in areas that are hundreds of kilometres apart.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.
"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases," Mariano Lugli, a co-ordinator in Guinea for the aid group said.
"This geographical spread is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic," Mr Lugli added. map
The outbreak of Ebola had centred around Guinea's remote south-east but it took the authorities six weeks to identify the disease.
It has now spread to neighbouring Liberia, as well as Guinea's capital, Conakry, which has a population of two million people.
Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since January, up from 70.
Of these, there were 22 laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola, the ministry said.
Liberia has recorded a total of seven suspected and confirmed cases, including four deaths, the World Health Organization said.
Liberia's Health Minister Walter Gwenigale on Monday warned people to stop having sex because the virus was spread via bodily fluids.
This was in addition to existing advice to stop shaking hands and kissing.
The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, says residents are increasingly concerned and many supermarket workers are wearing gloves as a precaution.
Sierra Leone has also reported five suspected cases, none of which have been confirmed yet, while Senegal, another neighbour of Guinea's, has closed its land border.
This could be a HUGE problem!. I just read that the incubation period for Ebola is 4 to 21 days with an average of 16 days. Just how many people do you think someone could come in contact with in 16 days?
What if someone who caught this virus, but was not showing symptoms yet, boarded an international flight?
We'll just have to watch and wait.
W.H.O.'s current situation report: http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/epidemic-a-pandemic-alert-and-response/outbreak-news/4071-ebola-haemorrhagic-fever-guinea-30-march-2014.html
ELEANOR HALL: Panic is spreading in West Africa where an outbreak of
ebola virus has killed around 80 people in Guinea, and is now spreading
to neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The deadly condition kills almost everyone it comes into contact with, as Africa correspondent Martin Cuddihy reports.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: It's one of the world's most deadly viruses.
Ebola causes vomiting, diarrhoea and severe internal and external bleeding.
As
many as 90 per cent of the people who get the virus die. Because of
that fatality rate, panic is following diagnosis in West Africa.
In the Guinean capital, one man confessed his fears as his wife was admitted to hospital.
GUINEAN
MAN: I'm panicked; I'm very confused. Two days now, we are still on our
legs. People are crying down at the hospital; they need help. They need
the international help. Everybody is frightened, everybody. No-one,
even the children.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: The disease has moved beyond the porous borders of Guinea to Sierra Leone, where 11 deaths have been confirmed.
And now it is spreading further. Ebola has reached Liberia.
The World Health Organization says there are now two confirmed cases in the Foya District.
Mariano Lugli from Medicines Sans Frontiers says it will be difficult to contain the spread.
MARIANO
LUGLI (translation): People move a lot, so the people who are infected
are in contact with other people, and our biggest problem at the moment
is isolating the cases so we can put them all together in a specialist
treatment unit, so they are isolated and can't infect other patients.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Senegal has closed its border with Guinea to isolate itself from the threat.
More than 30 tonnes of medical supplies and equipment have been flown in to West Africa in the hope of containing the outbreak.
Doctors don't know, but they suspect the disease is passed on to humans from bats.
The government in Guinea has reacted, banning the sale and consumption of bats - a local delicacy.
MSF says there is no known cure or vaccination for ebola.
MARIANO
LUGLI (translation): Every day we see pregnant women who lose their
babies very early in their pregnancies. We see the families torn about,
we see families who've been wiped out, because this disease is very
contagious.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Ebola disease is spread by close human contact.
In Guinea, the panic has reached such heights people are now actively avoiding the most basic of greetings, shaking hands.
In Nairobi, this is Martin Cuddihy for The World Today.
Sri Lanka is now taking stock of the country's
26-year-long civil war, in which the UN estimates as many as 40,000
Tamil civilians may have been killed. This report by the ABC's Alexander
McLeod in 1983 looks at the origins of the conflict as it was just
beginning.
The Ebola outbreak that has killed 78 people in Guinea is "unprecedented", a medical charity has said.
An official with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the
spread of the disease across the country made it very difficult to
control.
The West African state is facing a battle to contain the
outbreak after cases were reported in areas that are hundreds of
kilometres apart.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.
"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen
in terms of the distribution of cases," Mariano Lugli, a co-ordinator in
Guinea for the aid group said.
"This geographical spread is worrisome because it will
greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the
epidemic," Mr Lugli added.
The outbreak of Ebola had centred around Guinea's remote
south-eastern region of Nzerekore but it took the authorities six weeks
to identify the disease.
It has now spread to neighbouring Liberia, as well as Guinea's capital, Conakry, which has a population of two million people.
Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour cancelled a concert in Conakry on Saturday because of the outbreak.
Although he had already travelled to the city, he told the
BBC it would not be a good idea to bring hundreds or thousands of people
together in an enclosed area.
Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed
that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since
January, up from 70.
Of these, there were 22 laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola, the ministry said.
Liberia has recorded a total of seven suspected and confirmed
cases, including four deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Liberia's Health Minister Walter Gwenigale on Monday warned
people to stop having sex because the virus was spread via bodily
fluids.
This was in addition to existing advice to stop shaking hands and kissing.
The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, the capital of
Liberia, says residents are increasingly concerned and many supermarket
workers are wearing gloves as a precaution.
The first two Liberians confirmed as dying from Ebola were sisters, one of whom had recently returned from Guinea.
Sierra Leone has also reported five suspected cases, none of
which have been confirmed yet, while Senegal, another neighbour of
Guinea's, has closed its land border.
Ebola is back... I'm new to this latest outbreak and haven't read up on it.
I don't know if this is relevant or not... I read a report about six months ago that someone discovered an airborne form of the virus. It was in some random medical journal, which i can't for the life of me remember where it was.
Is this latest outbreak linked to the airborne form?
And does anyone have any experience with airborne Ebola?
How terrifying! No, I don't think anyone has experience of this. The closest thing I can think of is the film Outbreak, which was about an airborne haemorragic fever of the ebola type and the stupid things people did to try and contain it.
I severely doubt that this outbreak is airborne. I would have expected the WHO and Medicine Sans Frontier to have gone into meltdown by now if it was. Also, despite there being several types of haemorragic fever, I have never heard of any one of them ever becoming airborne. I can't speak for military versions of course but even then it would be self defeating without an efective vaccine/treatment.
This is an excerpt from a CDC document advising on the care of patients with haemorragic fevers from the mid 90s. "(1,2).
Airborne transmission involving humans has never been documented
and is considered a possibility only in rare instances from persons
with advanced stages of disease (e.g., one patient with Lassa fever
who had extensive pulmonary involvement may have transmitted
infection by the airborne route)" http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038033.htm
This is not to say such things are impossible, just improbable. Pray it stays so!
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
I have been surfing "airborne haemorraghic fevers" wondering if I could find out any more. I have found a scientific article suggesting that ebola may have jumped from pigs to macaques by the aerosol route. This article is just over a year old (but much younger than the CDC one I previously quoted).
However, even here there seems to be no proof of route of transmission and there are other possible methods. Those nosocomal cases the CDC refered to, where airborne infection could be suspected were (like the pigs) very much in the latter stages of the disease when the lungs were haemorraghing badly. I hope this does not give everyone nightmares. I will be researching further. Don't se much sleep coming my way.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
They are refering to airborne infection risk as a "theoretical possibility".
There seems to be a vast amount of online speculation about airborne transmission and some scaremongering. Summing up, the people in the know seem to be adopting procedures to avoid droplet infection as a precaution, but not actually believing it has happened.
How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.
Bid President Address Nation, Declare State of Emergency
Seated in an unlit Chamber, Senators of the 53rd Legislature Tuesday, April 1st, voted to work in collaboration with the House of Representatives to bid President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declare a State of Emergency and order Liberiaâs borders with Guinea---and if necessary, those with Sierra Leone and La CĂ´te dâIvoire---closed.
MĂŠdecins Sans Frontières describes the epidemic as âunprecedentedâ. The medical charityâs project coordinator, Mariano Lugli, said: âWe are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country."
Liberia: 13 nurses quarantined in Lofa over Ebola fears
At least about thirteen nurses at the Foyah Borma Hospital in Foyah District and Telewoyon Hospital, Vionjama, all in Lofa County have been quarantined.
The nurses, one of which is said to be showing symptom of the deadly Ebola virus that have spread across from neighboring Guinea here, all at one point came in contact with the two sisters, one already deceased, at the two hospitals.
The nurse whose symptom has become very visible is said to be isolated from the rest who are closely being monitored, sources at the two hospitals told this paper Tuesday.
(snip) DOCTORS and health officials are racing to track down almost 400 people who could be spreading one of the worldâs deadliest contagious diseases, as the number of confirmed cases across three West African countries rose to 127 yesterday.
Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation in Guinea, which has borne the brunt of containing the outbreak, said they were trying to trace at least 375 people thought to have had close contact with patients.
Confirmation that there is a strain of Ebola which can spread by the air. And its been known for some time.
Quote from the following article by the Daily Mail: "Canadian researchers have carried out experiments showing how monkeys can catch the deadly disease from infected pigs without coming into direct contact"
The number of people believed to have been killed by the Ebola virus in Guinea has passed 100, the UN World Health Organization says.
It was "one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks we have ever dealt with" and could take another four months to contain, the WHO said.
The virus had now killed 101 people in Guinea and 10 in Liberia, it said.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims.
Many West African states have porous borders, and people travel frequently between countries.
'High alert'
Southern Guinea is at the epicentre of the outbreak, with the first case reported last month.
The geographical spread of the outbreak is continuing to make it particularly challenging to contain - past outbreaks have involved much smaller areas.
"We fully expect to be engaged in this outbreak for the next two to three to four months before we are comfortable that we are through it," Keija Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general, said at a news briefing in Geneva, Reuters news agency reports.
The WHO said 157 suspected cases had been recorded in Guinea, including 20 in the capital, Conakry.
Sixty-seven of the cases have been confirmed as Ebola, it added.
In neighbouring Liberia, 21 cases had been reported, with five confirmed as Ebola, WHO said.
Mali had reported nine suspected cases, but medical tests done so far showed that two of them did not have Ebola, it said.
Last week, Mali said it was on high alert because of fears of an outbreak of Ebola and it would tighten border controls.
Saudi Arabia has suspended visas for Muslim pilgrims from Guinea and Liberia, in a sign of the growing unease about the outbreak.
This is the first known outbreak in Guinea - most recent cases have been thousands of miles away in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola.
The tropical virus leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.
More on This Stor
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đ
"CONAKRY (Reuters) - The death
toll from an Ebola outbreak in Guinea has risen to 122, the World Health
Organisation said on Thursday, a sharp increase from a previous figure
of 108.
The disease has
spread from Guinea's remote southeast to the capital, Conakry, where 16
people have died. It has also crossed into Liberia but the number of
dead there blamed on Ebola remains 13, the figures show."
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