Ebola Virus Outbreak 2014 News Update & Cases: Death Toll Exceeds 5,000

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has breached the 5,000 mark, reports said.

According to the latest data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 5,160 deaths were recorded as of November 9.

Liberia recorded the most number of deaths and cases, followed by Sierra Leone and Guinea.

A total of 2,836 people were killed by the virus in Liberia, the data showed. This is out of the 6,822 total cases recorded. More than 2,550 of which were laboratory-confirmed cases.

Sierra Leone recorded 1,169 deaths out of the 5,368 cases; 4,523 of these were laboratory-confirmed.

Of the 1,878 total cases recorded in Guinea, 1,612 were laboratory-confirmed. A total of 1,142 deaths were recorded in the West African country.

Meanwhile, eight deaths were recorded in Nigeria out of the 20 cases. Nigeria and Senegal were already declared Ebola-free this October.

Four deaths were listed in Mali while one death out of the four cases was recorded in the United States. One laboratory-confirmed case was recorded both in Senegal and Spain but no deaths have been reported so far.

A BBC News report said that "transmission remains intense in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone," citing WHO's situation report.

The new report, BBC News said, shows that at least 200 deaths have been added to the toll since the last situation report issued last November 7.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that over 90 people have been quarantined in Mali. It included around 20 United Nations peacekeepers being treated at the Pasteur Clinic. The UN peacekeepers were "quarantined as a precaution." Their identities and nationalities have not been reported.

The latest suspected Ebola case in Mali is a doctor at the Pasteur Clinic. He is now being monitored. One of the deaths recorded was a nurse who died on Tuesday night shortly after being tested positive for the disease.

In a related note, over 400 health workers in Sierra Leone went on strike. They claim that the government has failed to pay them their risk allowances.

Protests were also staged by nurses in the US. They assailed the insufficient protection given to health workers who help in treating Ebola patients. It is estimated that at least 100,000 nurses participated in the protests, Reuters said.

The symptoms of Ebola are fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal/stomach pain, and unexplained bleeding or bruising. CDC says that people suspected of having the virus may have these symptoms for at least two to 21 days.

To date, there is still no specific treatment or medicine for the disease. However, some interventions can be made to give victims higher chance of recovery. This includes giving intravenous fluids, balancing electrolytes, keeping oxygen status and blood pressure, and treating other infections that may show up. Some experimental treatments have already been made but have not yet been fully tested and proven.