APRNEWS - West African leaders and European ministers are in Accra, the capital of Ghana, to discuss regional solutions to the insurgency that is spreading as foreign troops withdraw from Mali, where militants have seized large swaths of territory.

France, Denmark and Ivory Coast are among the countries that ended their military cooperation with Mali this year due to the ruling junta's cooperation with Russian mercenaries.

APRNEWS - Lassa fever is an illness caused by Lassa virus, a single-stranded RNA hemorrhagic fever virus from the family Arenaviridae.

It is an acute febrile viral illness lasting one to four weeks, and it occurs in West Africa and some areas beyond. The incubation period for Lassa fever is variable, from six days to three weeks.

AFRICANEWS- Ebola vaccines are set to be administered to people in the Democratic Republic of Congo starting today. The World Health Organization (WHO) imported thousands of doses into the country last week.

Even though the vaccine has yet to be licensed, the DRC government gave WHO the go-ahead to administer it in a bid to curb the spread of the disease which resurfaced earlier this month.

VOA- Three new cases of the often lethal Ebola virus have been confirmed in a city of more than 1 million people, Congo’s health minister announced, as the spread of the hemorrhagic fever in an urban area raised alarm.

The statement late Friday said the confirmed cases are in Mbandaka city, where a single case was confirmed earlier in the week.