Guinea Ebola death toll rises above 200

GENEVA, Switzerland – More than 200 people have died from the highly contagious Ebola virus in Guinea, making it one of the worst ever outbreaks of the disease, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The UN’s health agency said it so far had registered 328 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola in Guinea, including 208 deaths, with 21 deaths registered between May 29 and June 1 alone.

Neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia were also increasingly affected, said WHO, which has described West Africa’s first-ever outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever as one of the most challenging since the virus was first identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Two hundred and eighty people died in that outbreak, which was the deadliest on record.

To date, 79 confirmed and suspected cases have surfaced in Sierra Leone, which has seen its death toll from the disease jump from one a week ago to six, the agency said.

The virus meanwhile appeared to have resurfaced in Liberia, which earlier this year had seen 12 suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola, including nine deaths, but had not seen any new cases for nearly two months.

A person believed to have been infected in Kailahun in Sierra Leone came across the border and died in Foya, WHO said, pointing out that the dead body was taken back to Kailahun to be buried, WHO said. – Rappler.com