Geneva, October 9 (RHC)-- The Ebola epidemic has so far claimed the lives of 3,879 people all around the world, while more than 8,000 people have been infected. According to the Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday, the virus has been most devastating in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"The three countries, Nigeria, Senegal, and the United States of America have now reported a case or cases imported from a country with widespread and intense transmission," the report added. The WHO report came shortly after the second possible Ebola case in the U.S. was hospitalized in the Texas Health Presbyterian Clinic earlier in the day.

The patient, who is Dallas County sheriff's deputy, is reported to have had some contact with the first victim of the deadly disease in the U.S. who was pronounced dead on Wednesday in a hospital in Texas.

Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

Ebola remains one of the world's most virulent diseases, which kills between 25 to 90 percent of those who contract the disease. There is currently no known cure for Ebola.