The current outbreak of Ebola in Guinea in West Africa is now perhaps the fourth deadliest ever. The World Health Organisation says it has so far registered 328 confirmed or suspected cases in the country, and that 208 people have died.
The worst ever outbreak so far
was in Congo, then Zaire, in 1976, in which the death toll was 280. A further
245 died in the country in 1995.
As well as the cases in Guinea, the
disease has cost 6 lives in Sierra Leone, where there are 79 known or confirmed
cases, and there are also fears that Ebola has reappeared in Liberia, which
suffered 9 deaths earlier this year.
There is no vaccine and no
effective treatment for the disease, which causes fever, muscle pain, and
severe bleeding. Death rates can reach
80 per cent or more.
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