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Death toll from Ebola virus exceeds 3,300 - WHO

The WHO report says the epidemic spread has slowed down for a second week

GENEVA, October 2. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday published new data, in line with which the death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak has reached 3,338 people out of a total of 7,178 officially registered cases.

The WHO report says the epidemic spread has slowed down for a second week. At the same time, the global health body warned that some cases could be underreported. The figures are cited as of the end of last week, September 28.

The Ebola virus disease

The Ebola virus disease (EVD), previously known as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe illness in humans, often fatal, according to the WHO website. The virus is passed on to people from wild animals and can be transmitted from humans to humans. The average EVD case death rate is some 50%

The first outbreaks of the EVD occurred in remote Central African villages, near tropical rainforests. However, major urban and rural areas have been involved in the most recent outbreak in western Africa.

Early supportive care, which includes rehydration and symptomatic treatment, improves the survival rate. No licensed treatment has yet been proven to be able to neutralize the virus but a number of blood, immunological and drug medications are under development. There are no licensed Ebola vaccines yet but two candidates are being evaluated.