Ebola kills 2,288, nearly half of deaths in past 21 days: WHO

UN's health agency said, pointing out that 47% of the deaths and 49% of the cases had come in the last 21 days.

GENEVA: The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has claimed 2,288 lives, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, stressing that nearly half had died in less than a month.

As of September 6, as many as 2,288 people had died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libera out of 4,269 reported cases, the UN's health agency said, pointing out that 47 per cent of the deaths and 49 per cent of the cases had come in the last 21 days.

Another eight people have died in Nigeria out of 21 cases, while one case of Ebola has been confirmed in Senegal, the WHO said.

Ebola, which has killed more than half the people it has infected in the current outbreak, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, saliva and sweat.

Infected people who do not get the correct treatment quickly face muscle pain, headaches, fever and, eventually, an agonising and undignified death soaked in their own vomit, faeces and blood.