West Africa Ebola deaths near 4,500 - WHO

Health workers remove the body a woman who died from the Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone, October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Josephus Olu-Mammah

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A total of 4,493 people have died from the world's worst Ebola outbreak on record by Oct. 12, statistics released by the World Health Organization showed on Wednesday. WHO said a total of 8,997 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola had been reported in seven countries. These include Spain and the United States, where a handful of healthcare workers are ill, and Senegal and Nigeria, which appear to have prevented further spread of the disease. "It is clear...that the situation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone is deteriorating, with widespread and persistent transmission of (Ebola)," the WHO report stated. (Reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by David Lewis)