The News Minute | July 30, 2014 | 05:31 pm IST

Geneva: The deadliest Ebola outbreak in recent history is happening even as teams of doctors and specialists try to combat the spread of the deadly virus that has claimed the life of the doctor leading the fight against it in Sierra Leone. 

The death of Sheik Umar Khan, who was credited with treating more than 100 patients, follows those of dozens of local health workers and the infection of two American medics in neighboring Liberia, highlighting the dangers faced by staff trying to halt the disease's spread across West Africa.

To date, the virus has killed more than 660 people and the disease now poses a threat to the UK, a government official in London has said.  Read

The contagious disease, which has no known cure, has symptoms that include vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding. The fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 percent although Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it.

The 39-year-old Khan, hailed as a "national hero" by the Health Ministry, had been moved to a treatment ward run by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in the far north of Sierra Leone.

The virus has now hit four countries – Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and most recently Nigeria. Ebola which is both rare and deadly is a virus which starts off with flu-like symptoms almost always ends with terrible hemorrhaging and death. Read more