A 32-year-old female patient who tested positive for the ebola virus is missing from the hospital as of Friday, July 25. Saudatu Koroma, a resident of the populous Wellington neighbourhood in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, was forcibly taken from isolation in the hospital by family. She is the first resident in the city of approximately one million inhabitants to test positive for the deadly virus.

“She is a positive case and her being out there is a risk to all. We need the public to help us locate her.” said a radio announcement in the capital city. The ebola virus has been responsible for the deaths of at least 660 individuals across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the outbreak in February.

A positive case was identified in Freetown earlier this year, but the patient was believed to have contracted it elsewhere. Cases have also been confirmed in the capital cities of Conakry and Monrovia of Guinea and Liberia, respectively. A Liberian civil servant who collapsed upon his arrival at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria (Africa’s most populous city) was announced dead due to infection from the ebola virus.

The ebola outbreak in West Africa is the first time the virus has appeared in heavily populated areas since its discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. The new death causes increased alarm due to the high frequency of cross-border traveling in the region.

The virus is notorious for its high fatality rate of up to 90 percent of infected individuals, with no cure. It is spread through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals, causing diarrhoea, vomiting and severe internal bleeding. Early detection and treatment significantly improve chances of survival.

A lack of information and suspicion of medical professionals in the field by the local population has caused many to shun treatment and also become grave barriers in fighting the spread of the disease. Health ministry data and officials reported dozens of individuals with confirmed laboratory tests as unaccounted for in Sierra Leone.

Termed “one of the world’s deadliest diseases”, the viral outbreak is proving difficult to fight. International medical organizations such as Doctors Without Borders have deployed expert health officials to the field to assist in the fight, as the regions affected have weak health care systems that have been put under overwhelming stress by the outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) cited poor health infrastructure and lack on manpower as great hindrances to their efforts.