World
Death Toll in Guinea Ebola Outbreak Reaches 63
A girl carries a child as they walk back from school during a rain shower in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Health officials in the West African nation of Guinea say the death toll from a rare Ebola outbreak has risen to 63.
Dr. Sakoba Keita, a spokesman with the health ministry, confirmed Wednesday that three additional people had died after contracting the virus.
International aid workers have set up quarantine centers in the country’s south to isolate patients with the highly infectious and highly fatal disease.
Ebola has no vaccine or specific treatment. Its initial symptoms — high fever, weakness and headache — can mimic malaria, a much more common disease in West Africa.
Once the virus has caused hemorrhaging, though, victims can start vomiting blood or bleeding from their nose and gums.
Guinea’s outbreak is the first in West Africa in 20 years.
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