Ebola has killed seven people in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia in West Africa.  These are the first Ebola deaths in Liberia in the West African epidemic, where the vast majority of cases had been reported in Guinea with a few more in Sierra Leone.

All seven deaths occurred after 8 June, and Liberian Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah says the new wave of cases was believed to have begun on 30 May.  It’s believed that a woman brought the virus back from an infected area in Sierra Leone and transferred it to the others.  Among the dead are four members of the same family including a baby, as well as a nurse.

“When we knew that the nurse was confirmed (to have) the disease, we isolated her and started to provide protective treatment and supportive treatment and all of that to her.  But unfortunately she died,” Nyenswah said.

Ebola disease kills via diarrhea, severe hemorrhaging, and high fever and is spread through contact with bodily fluids, which is why it spreads quickly through families or housemates.  There is no vaccine and no cure, and it kills as many as 90 percent of those infected.

The new deaths will likely push the UN’s official death toll to more than 250.  The vast majorities, 208, happened in Guinea.