by Emma Chidogo

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concern over the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

While speaking at a summit with regional leaders, Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation, said that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was spreading faster than efforts to control it.

She said this  during the emergency crisis summit with the leaders of  Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, held in the Guinean capital, Conakry on Friday, 1 August.

She warned leaders in the West African region that failure to contain the virus could be “catastrophic” in terms of lives lost.

Chan however said that the virus, which has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, could be stopped if well managed.

Also speaking on the outbreak, US President, Barack Obama, announced that delegates from affected countries attending a US-Africa conference in Washington next week would be screened.

“Folks who are coming from these countries that have even a marginal risk, or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we’re making sure we’re doing screening,” he said.

Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected. It spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs – or contaminated environments. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.

The US relief agency has moved to repatriate two of its American staff who contracted the virus in Liberia. Hundreds of US Peace Corps volunteers have already been evacuated from the West African countries.

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