Ebola virus toll nearly 8,800: WHO

Geneva, Jan 28 (IANS/TASS) The number of people killed by the Ebola virus disease has reached 8,795, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

A total of 22,057 cases of the Ebola virus disease have been reported, WHO said in a statement Tuesday.

In line with statistics, the maximum number of Ebola-related deaths has been registered in Liberia. There have been a total of 3,686 cumulative deaths and 8,622 cumulative cases in the country. Liberia is followed by Sierra Leone (3,199 deaths and 10,518 cases) and Guinea (1,910 and 2,917, respectively).

Separate cases have also been registered in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, Britain and the US.

The Ebola virus disease, previously known as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe illness in humans, often fatal, according to the WHO. The virus is passed on to people from wild animals and can be transmitted from humans to humans. The average Ebola case death rate is some 50 percent.

The first outbreaks of the EVD occurred in remote Central African villages, near tropical rainforests. However, major urban and rural areas have been involved in the most recent outbreak in western Africa.

Early supportive care, which includes rehydration and symptomatic treatment, improves the survival rate.

No licensed treatment has yet been proven to be able to neutralise the virus but a number of blood, immunological and drug medications are under development. There are no licensed Ebola vaccines yet but two candidates are being evaluated.

--IANS/TASS

ab/dg