The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for “drastic action” to control the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, currently going on in three nations in West Africa and poised to get a lot worse.  The WHO is calling an eleven-nation summit to deal with the spread of Ebola.

The UN agency is convening a conference of regional Health Ministers in Accra, Ghana next week.  One of the reasons this has spread so quickly is that West Africa has never before had an Ebola outbreak.  Health Ministers from Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo – where Ebola was first detected 40 years ago – will take part.

“This is no longer a country specific outbreak but a sub-regional crisis that requires firm action by governments and partners,” said the WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, adding that his organization is “gravely concerned by the ongoing cross-border transmission into neighboring countries as well as the potential for further international spread.”

635 cases of Ebola are confirmed, causing 399 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.  The numbers shot up in recent weeks, because Ebola appeared to have slowed in April and May, leading countries to let their guard down.  “One case can restart an entire epidemic,” said the WHO’s top Ebola specialist Pierre Formenty.