The West African Ebola outbreak is getting worse – The UN World health Organization (WHO) says the death toll has grown to 467 lives lost,  And 68 of the deaths have occurred in the past week, beginning on 23 June.

The number of identified cases of Ebola disease went up by 20 percent – 635 confirmed cases on 23 June, up to 759 in the latest release.  Ebola remains confined to Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, with most cases centered in the Geukedou region of southeastern Guinea. 

But it has also appeared in Liberia’s sprawling capital Monrovia.  And in both Liberia and Sierra Leone, officials warned against sheltered patients who checked themselves out of hospital after it was learned that dozens being treated for Ebola disease fled and went into hiding.  And Guinea’s president has been accused of playing down its spread so as not to frighten international investors.

Ebola is killing 60 percent of the patients it infects during this outbreak, but in the past it’s been as high as 90 percent.  It is easily spread by any bodily fluid, which is why it tends to wipe out entire families and infect health care workers.  There’s no vaccine and no cure.