As health officials in Guinea race to contain the deadly Ebola outbreak, authorities in the West African nation have reported that at least 78 people have now died from the virus, according to the Associated Press.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement yesterday that the cases were among seven tested from the Northern Foya district.

"Two of those samples have tested positive for the Ebola virus," a WHO spokesman said in a statement. "There have been two deaths among the suspected cases, a 35-year-old woman who died on March 21 tested positive for Ebola virus while a male patient who died on March 27 tested negative."

Since it first emerged in 1976 the virus has killed 1,600 people. Yet health officials have stated that this outbreak is the worst in seven years. Guinea has 122 "suspected" and confirmed cases.

Yahoo News reported that most of the recorded cases come from southern Guinea, but the disease has spread to the capital since Wednesday. The Guinean health ministry said late Friday that 11 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Conakry, including one reported fatality.

The AP reported that Liberia has reported two cases, including one death. The Guinean towns of Gueckedou and Macenta, near the border with Liberia, have reported been hit the hardest with about 55 cases and 14 deaths, according to Guinea's health ministry. Senegal has closed its land border with Guinea to keep the virus from spreading

The virus leads to hemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea and in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable external bleeding. The virus reportedly has no cure and those infected are put into isolation to prevent the virus from spreading.

The European Union pledged $690,000 to fight the virus, but it remains unclear how Ebola had arrived in Guinea. Ebola can be transmitted to humans from wild animals; therefore health officials have asked people not to eat monkeys, chimpanzees and bats.

They asked also for people to avoid travel in the affected areas. The virus can also be transmitted "between humans through direct contact with another's blood, faeces or sweat, as well as sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses."