The number of suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola (EVD) in Guinea has jumped from 103 to 122 in just three days, with 80 confirmed deaths, said the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), which will now focus on preventing further transmissions of the often fatal disease.

“The incubation period for all strains of Ebola is between two and 21 days,” said WHO spokesman Gregory Härtl, as he explained today at a press briefing in Geneva that the agency has taken “the maximum incubation period and multiplied it by two to get the length of time needed to ensure no onwards transmission.”

“Communication with local communities and their education is of crucial importance,” he stressed.

According to WHO, the source of infection has been localized in the south east of Guinea. In Liberia, the seven infected – four of whom have died – are Liberians who had recently travelled to Guinea and were subsequently contaminated. The previously suspected Sierra Leone cases have been tested negative.

The Ebola virus first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and it does not normally cause a large number of cases – the largest outbreaks were of approximately 400 cases. However, with no treatment and no cure, it has a very high fatality rate of up to 90 per cent.

source: UN news centre