Ebola death toll in West Africa passes 1,000

August 12, 2014 07:34 am | Updated April 21, 2016 03:18 am IST - DAKAR, Senegal

The World Health Organization says the death toll in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has passed 1,000.

The U.N. health agency said in a news release on Monday that 1,013 people have died in the outbreak, which has hit Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and possibly Nigeria.

Authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected, probable or confirmed cases of the disease, which causes a high fever, vomiting and bleeding. The outbreak was first identified in March in Guinea, but it likely started months earlier.

The updated WHO tally includes figures from August 7 to August 9 when 52 more people died and 69 more were infected.

Ebola is highly lethal and there is no licensed vaccine or treatment for the disease, but so far three people infected have received an experimental drug.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.