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WHO voices confidence no wider spread of Ebola in Africa

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REUTERS                                                                                                      Oct. 23, 2014

GENEVA/LONDON --The World Health Organization said on Thursday it was still trying to slow the rate of new infections but had "reasonable confidence" that the Ebola virus plaguing three West African countries had not spread into neighboring states.

Volunteers who will be sent to Africa in the forthcoming days are taught how to work with patients infected with the Ebola virus during a training session at AP-HP hospital Henri Mondor in Creteil, a suburb of Paris October 22, 2014.

Asked whether countries such as Guinea Bissau, Mali and Ivory Coast might have cases of the disease crossing their borders without knowing about or reporting them, WHO assistant director general Keiji Fukuda said he considered that unlikely.

"I think that there is reasonable confidence right now that we are not seeing widespread transmission of Ebola into the neighboring countries," Fukuda told a news briefing in Geneva.

"It remains a big concern for everybody, but we think that right now we are not seeing it. We think it would be very difficult to miss, basically."

He conceded that some Ebola cases could go undetected or unreported by authorities "for a few days for a week or two".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/us-health-ebola-who-spread-idUSKCN0IC1TZ20141023

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