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Guinea Ebola Death Toll Reaches 78

Guinea Ebola Death Toll Reaches 78

Officials in Guinea say 78 people have died of ebola with at least 111 suspected cases of the viral disease, which spreads in the blood and shuts down the immune system, according to reports in ABCNew and SuperNewsPlanet.

Although it is rare, Ebola causes high fever, headache and muscle pain and is “one of the world’s most deadly diseases,” according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).  The virus is transmitted by contact with the fluids of infected people or animals.

Ebola creates panic, because there is no cure and it’s fatal in most cases.

Health authorities in Guinea said this is an “unprecedented epidemic” ABCNews reports.

The outbreak is the first of its kind in West Africa in two decades. Authorities in neighboring Senegal have closed the land border with Guinea. Liberia, also a neighbor,  has confirmed two cases, one of them fatal, according to ABC.

Fearing the disease could spread in a large crowd, Senegalese music superstar Youssou Ndour cancelled a weekend concert in Conakry, Guinea’s capital. 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, ABC reports.

The ebola outbreak in Guinea poses new challenges unseen in previous outbreaks that involved “more remote locations as opposed to urban areas,” said Doctors Without Borders.

“The vast geographic spread of the Guinea outbreak is worrisome because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organizations working to control the epidemic,” said Mariano Lugli, the group’s coordinator in Conakry.

The Ebola virus was first discovered in Congo — then known as Zaire — in 1976. There is no vaccine or treatment, ABC reports.