Guinea reports ‘unprecedented epidemic’ of Ebola virus as death toll rises to 78
Deadly bleeding disease without treatment or cure claims at least 78 victims in Guinea
Health authorities in the West African country of Guinea are facing an “unprecedented epidemic” of Ebola, an international aid group warned on Monday as the death toll from the disease that causes severe bleeding reached 78.
The Ebola outbreak is the first of its kind in the region in two decades. Authorities in neighbouring Senegal have closed the land border with Guinea. Liberia, another neighbouring country, has confirmed two cases, one of them fatal.
Senegalese music superstar Youssou N’Dour cancelled a weekend concert in Conakry, Guinea’s capital, because he feared the disease could spread in a large crowd gathered to hear him. Residents have steered clear of the hospital in the city of 2 million where, according to authorities, relatives of one victim are being held in isolation.
The emergence of Ebola in Guinea poses challenges never seen in previous outbreaks that involved “more remote locations as opposed to urban areas,” said Doctors Without Borders. Ebola has struck down people in Conakry as well as in Guinea’s rural south.
“The vast geographic spread of the Guinea outbreak is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organisations working to control the epidemic,” said Mariano Lugli, the group’s co-ordinator in Conakry.
