Spreading like wildfire - Ebola takes 25 more lives in West Africa

Africa continues to struggle with the Ebola virus the World Health Organization (WHO) said on July 8.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Fifty new cases of the disease have been reported, along with 25 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since July 3.

Give a light in the darkness for the victims of this dreaded disease.

The United Nations agency made a statement that the latest figures from the health ministries from those three countries totaled 844 cases, including 518 deaths since the epidemic began in February of 2014.

Guinea's health ministry reported two deaths since July 3, but no new cases in the past week the WHO said. The agency called the situation in that region of West Africa a "mixed picture."

Sierra Leone accounted for 34 of the new cases and 14 deaths, Liberia had 16 cases and 9 deaths, said the WHO, noting: "These numbers indicate that active viral transmission continues in the community."

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib spoke to a news briefing in Geneva early on July 8, and told the reporters that: "This means that the two main modes of transmission are home care, people who care for their relative at home, and during funerals, are still ongoing."

"If we don't stop the transmission in the several hotspots in the three countries we will not be able to say that we control the outbreak," she added.

A U.S. citizen is believed to be among the victims of this disease, after falling ill while traveling in Sierra Leone and Guinea. He died on July 6 at a clinic in Ghana, while in quarantine in the capital Accra.

"We are aware that the deceased was tested for Ebola but the official cause of death has not yet been confirmed. Test results thus far have been inconclusive," a U.S. State Department official said in an email.

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