W. African Ebola epidemic 'likely to last months', says UN

By AFP

Africa

JUL 3, 2014 LISTEN

A picture taken on June 28, 2014 shows protective boots hanging upside down in the isolation ward of the Donka Hospital in Conakry, where people infected with the Ebola virus are being treated. By Cellou Binani (AFP/File)

Accra (AFP) - The United Nations health agency said on Thursday it expected the worst Ebola outbreak in history to continue its deadly rampage through west Africa for at least "several months".

Keiji Fukuda, the UN agency's assistant director-general of health security, said at the close of a regional summit of health ministers on the crisis it was "impossible to give a clear answer" on how far the epidemic could spread or when it might begin to retreat.

"I certainly expect that we are going to be dealing with this outbreak minimum for a few months to several months," he told journalists.