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Sierra Leone confirms second Ebola death

A woman has died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, the second death due to the virus in the country, while six other patients are still being treated.

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(File:AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Sierra Leone has confirmed a second death from the Ebola virus.

"One of the seven Ebola patients, a woman admitted at the Isolation Centre in the Government Hospital in Kenema, died on Tuesday," Dr Brima Kargbo, the chief medical officer, told AFP in a telephone interview.

The six other patients affected were "undergoing treatment", added Dr Kargbo.

The announcement of the death comes two days after Sierra Leone confirmed its first fatality from Ebola.

The WHO meanwhile warned of likely further contagion as four of the sick patients had been moved back to their home village.

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They were removed from an isolation facility in the east of the country by family members who were unwilling to see them remain in a hospital far from home, WHO scientist Pierre Fromenty said.

The WHO has described the region's first Ebola outbreak as one of the most challenging since the virus was first identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In response to the epidemic, Sierra Leone has restricted travel in some areas, and reaffirmed an earlier ban on trips to attend funerals in Guinea.

Authorities have designated the eastern regions of Kailahun, where the first case was confirmed, and Kenema as "high risk".

Officials are trying to encourage residents to cooperate with health workers, but Fromenty said getting populations in both Sierra Leone and Guinea onboard with efforts to rein in the epidemic remained a major challenge.

The haemorrhagic fever, which has no cure, erupted in Guinea in January and also spread to Liberia.

In Guinea, 281 cases of viral haemorrhagic fever have so far been reported resulting in a total of 185 deaths, WHO said on Wednesday.

Liberia meanwhile has seen 12 reported cases of Ebola, including nine deaths.


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