Update on the Ebola Virus Disease

The outbreak, which was 1st discovered in March 2014, has now killed more than 2400 people mostly in Liberia, neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone, as understaffed and poorly resourced West African healthcare systems have been overrun.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the epidemic is spreading exponentially in Liberia, where more than half of the deaths have been recorded. It has said that thousands are at risk of contagion in the coming weeks.

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has set up several treatment centers in the affected countries but has also repeatedly warned it has reached the limits of its capacity and appealed for foreign governments to intervene.