Sierra Leone Confirms First Case of Ebola as Epidemic Spreads

Sierra Leone on Monday confirmed its first death from Ebola, with several more suspected to have succumbed to the deadly virus that swept across neighboring Guinea earlier this year.

"I can categorically confirm that the Ebola sickness has materialized," said health ministry official Amara Jambai.

Jambai initially said four cases of Ebola fever had been identified, but later clarified that while four people had died, only one person had so far been confirmed to have had the virus.

Jambai said 11 people with acute diarrhea and vomiting had been admitted to the Koindu Community Health Center in a region bordering southern Guinea.

Four people died and five were responding to treatment.

"Of the four deaths only one has been confirmed as dying from Ebola after two independent tests at the Kenema Laboratory Center. The cause of death of the other three is still being investigated," he said.

The deadly hemorrhagic fever, which has no cure, erupted in Guinea in January where it claimed 81 lives -- according to government figures released three weeks ago -- and also spread to Liberia.

Ebola is one of a handful of similar fevers that cause vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable internal bleeding.

It can be transmitted by blood and other bodily fluids, as well as the handling of contaminated corpses or infected animals, known to be vectors of the disease.

The World Health Organization 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.

The U.N. health agency said in a statement that it had been informed that the virus had appeared in Liberia and spoke of five possible cases.

The virus had been suspected but laboratory tests had eventually ruled out Ebola following several suspect cases earlier this year.

According to a May 23 statement by the WHO, 258 cases of viral hemorrhagic fever, of which 174 have resulted in deaths, have been reported in the Republic of Guinea.

Out of the 258 cases, the Guinean government has said that 146 were confirmed Ebola cases, 95 of them deadly.

In Liberia, which borders both Guinea and Sierra Leone, six cases of Ebola have been confirmed out of 12 cases of hemorrhagic fever, nine of them deadly.

No suspicious case was reported there since April 9 and the outbreak is considered under control but the border regions continue to be monitored closely.