World

Apes may hold key to suspected Ebola outbreak

Reports of dead gorillas and chimpanzees are being investigated for links to an Ebola outbreak in Gabon.

Reports of dead gorillas and chimpanzees in a forest in Gabon are being investigated for links to a suspected outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

Ebola is thought to have killed 10 people in the remote northwestern part of the central African country.

Authorities in Gabon have put four villages under quarantine in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

Government officials say have been told the corpses of many gorillas and chimpanzees have been found in the area.

On Tuesday, a team of epidemiology experts from the World Health Organization headed to a remote area of the country, hoping to contain the outbreak.

In 1996, an Ebola epidemic in another part of the country killed about 65 people.

Victims of Ebola bleed to death in a matter of days.

There is no known cure and no vaccine.