West African death toll from Ebola Virus is 528

MONROVIA, Liberia, June 22 (UPI) —

Liberia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare confirmed an eighth person in the span of two weeks has died of the Ebola virus in the country’s capital of Monrovia.

The announcement came a week after the country’s health minister and the World Health Organization said the deadly haemorrhagic fever killed seven people in the city in the span of a weekend.

The death toll from the outbreak in western Africa rose to 528 as of Wednesday, with 398 in Guinea, 97 in Sierra Leone and 33 in Liberia.

No vaccine or cure currently exists for the flu-like virus, which causes fever with chills, joint pain, muscle pain and chest pain.

Since it was first discovered in 1976, the disease has infected fewer than 2,000 people, mostly in the tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It resides in infected pigs, monkeys and fruit bats, and can be transferred to humans.

In some cases there is up to a 90 percent mortality rate. The mortality rate of the current outbreak is a bit more than 50 percent.

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