WHO holds emergency meeting on Ebola epidemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has held an emergency meeting on the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa and other affected countries.

The WHO on Wednesday began a private two-day telephone meeting on whether to declare the Ebola epidemic an international crisis.
Senior WHO officials, representatives of affected countries, and experts from around the globe are not expected to make the decision public until Friday.
Meanwhile, the UN agency said 932 people have so far died from the viral disease in West Africa.
According to the agency, the number of people who have contracted the potentially deadly disease has risen to 1,711.
The outbreak of the virus has mainly affected Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
People from other areas of the world, including the United States and Saudi Arabia, have contracted the deadly virus after visiting the West African nations.
There is currently no known cure for Ebola, a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, bleeding, and fever.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can be also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
Ebola was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976 in an outbreak that killed 280 people.