Ebola crisis: Virus spreading too fast, says WHO

Medical workers have been deployed to explain to residents how to protect themselves Continue reading the main story Ebola crisis Why so dangerous On the front line Virus detective Ebola voices The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is spreading faster than efforts to control it, World Health Organization (WHO) head Margaret Chan has said. She told a summit of regional leaders that failure to contain Ebola could be "catastrophic" in terms of lives lost. But she said the virus, which has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, could be stopped if well managed. Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected. Ebola explained in 60 seconds It spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs - or contaminated environments. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment. Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from the eyes and gums, and internal bleeding that can lead to organ failure. A US relief agency says will repatriate two of its American staff who have contracted the virus in Liberia. They are believed to be the first Ebola patients ever to be treated in the US. Hundreds of US Peace Corps volunteers have already been evacuated from the West African countries. Separately, US President Barack Obama announced that delegates from affected countries attending a US-Africa conference in Washington next week would be screened. "Folks who are coming from these countries that have even a marginal risk, or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we're making sure we're doing screening," he said. Offices are being sprayed with disinfectant in the Liberian capital Monrovia to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus