FREETOWN, Sierra Leone
Ambassador Samantha Power, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, is due in Sierra Leone on Monday at the start of a two-day visit to the country, one of the hardest hit by the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.
"The purpose of Ambassador Power's visit is to reinforce international community support for the Government of Sierra Leone's efforts to stop the Ebola epidemic," the U.S. Embassy said in a press release on Sunday.
She will meet President Ernest Bai Koroma and visit the National Ebola Response Center.
The American diplomat will also visit Liberia, Guinea, and Ghana.
In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed 4,922 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A total of 4,912 deaths were reported in the West African states of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia alone.
Others West African countries that had also reported Ebola cases are Nigeria, Senegal and Mali.
A tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.
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