BEIJING, April 11 -- The death toll in Angola from the world's deadliest outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus has inched towards the 200 mark with nine more deaths.

    The UN World Health Organization said as of Sunday, the total number of cases nationwide is 218 and 193 people have died, adding that 360 others were under surveillance in the southern African country where the outbreak was first detected in October.

    The last toll based on figures compiled up to Friday was 184.

    The Marburg virus, whose exact origin is unknown, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement, vomit, saliva, sweat and tears, but can be contained with relatively simple health precautions.

    The outbreak in Angola has overtaken an earlier outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the largest ever recorded of the virus, first detected in 1967 when German laboratory workers in the town of Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)