Ebola outbreak confirmed in Guinea, death toll reaches 59 — RT News

Ebola outbreak confirmed in Guinea, death toll reaches 59 — RT News:

The deadly epidemic, which has killed at least 59 people, in Guinea, West Africa, and could have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone, has been confirmed to be Ebola, according to government officials.

Following failed attempts by medical experts in Guinea to identify the disease, which started claiming lives six weeks ago, samples of the virus were sent to scientists in the French city of Lyon, who confirmed the virus was Ebola.

"The Ebola fever epidemic raging in southern Guinea, including the prefectures of Gueckedou and Macenta, since February 9 has left at least 59 dead out of 80 cases identified by our services on the ground," the Guinean health ministry’s chief disease prevention officer, Sakoba Keita, announced on Saturday, according to AFP.

 

Health
workers, dressed in head-to-toe "Ebola suits", leaving in a pick-up
truck in Uige, about 300km north of the Angolan capital, Luanda, to
collect a man dying from haemorrhagic fever. (AFP Photo / Florence
Panoussian)