The World Health Organization said Thursday that more than 1,900 people had been killed by the Ebola virus now ravaging parts of West Africa.
"The number of confirmed cases now stands at 3,500 in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, including more than 1,900 deaths," Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the organization, said in a press briefing Wednesday.
Chan warned that the disease is spreading in these countries and said authorities aimed to stop the outbreak in six to nine months by acting in unity and with financial support.
But the international group Doctor Without Borders warned Tuesday that the world is losing the battle against the Ebola outbreak.
The tropical fever, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
The World Health Organization describes the Ebola virus as "one of the most virulent."
www.aa.com.tr/en/health
