Ebola death toll above 4,000

 A teacher uses a thermometer to test students' temperature to check for symptoms of Ebola at Aiyetoro African Church Nursery and Primary school in Lagos, NigeriaThe total number of deaths attributed to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen above 4,000, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency said that 4,033 deaths confirmed, probably or suspected to have been caused by Ebola have now been recorded.

All but nine of them were in the three worst-affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight of the rest were in Nigeria, with one patient dying in the United States.

As of the end of Wednesday, a total of 8,399 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola had been reported from seven countries, WHO said. The three worst-affected countries accounted for 8,376 cases.