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On Friday, the World Health Organization announced that the largest outbreak of Ebola in history now constitutes as an international public health emergency that needs an extraordinary response to curb.

The virus, which has killed nearly 1,000 people in Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leon, is continuing to spread in nations that do not have the resources to deal with such an outbreak. The health organization has called for “international solidarity,” even though many countries will probably stave off the outbreak, according to the WHO.

From Reuters:

“A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola,” the WHO said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its emergency committee on Ebola.

The declaration of an international emergency will have the effect of raising the level of vigilance on the virus.

“The outbreak is moving faster than we can control it,” the WHO’s director-general Margaret Chan told reporters on a telephone briefing from the WHO’s Geneva headquarters.

“The declaration … will galvanize the attention of leaders of all countries at the top level. It cannot be done by the ministries of health alone.”

The agency said that, while all states with Ebola transmission – so far Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – should declare a national emergency, there should be no general ban on international travel or trade.

The virus, which holds a 60 to 90 percent mortality rate, does not have a cure or vaccine to prevent infection, but health officials are confident that it can be contained.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s head of health security, stressed that, with the right measures to deal with infected people, the spread of Ebola – which is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids – could be stopped.

“This is not a mysterious disease. This is an infectious disease that can be contained,” he told reporters. “It is not a virus that is spread through the air.”

Fukuda said it was important that anyone known to have Ebola should be immediately isolated and treated and kept in isolation for 30 days. “Based on scientific studies, people who have infection can shed virus for up to 30 days,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its response to the outbreak to a level one activation — an alert reserved for the most serious health emergencies.

SOURCE: Reuters | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty