The spread of Ebola in West Africa is out of control according to international medical group, Doctors without Borders

The last 2 weeks alone have seen a 60 percent increase in the number of deaths reported, with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea proving the worst affected

The region has seen 337 people killed by the virus, with medical experts fearing the actual total may be greater, given that the virus often spreads in remote areas where cases can initially go untreated.

Armand Sprecher, Public health specialist at Doctors Without Borders spoke of the gravity of the situation:

“Given the size of the outbreak and the number of foci, it would help if the governments and other actors could bring more resources and people to bear to help contain the outbreak. This outbreak is getting very large and it is stretching our resources very, very thin.”

Doctors without borders warn that local governments and international health actors have not brought enough resources to bear.

There is no cure or vaccine for the highly contagious disease, with treatment often reliant on isolating those affected from the population at large.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected people and causes organ failure and internal bleeding.