Amid warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that there could be up to 10,000 new cases of Ebola per week within 60 days, a leading US scientist has said that the deadly virus could be mutating to become more contagious.

The disease has already killed over 4,000 people and infected thousands more, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the epidemic is said to be spiralling out of control.

Outside Africa, three nurses, one in Madrid, Spain, and two in Dallas, Texas, caught the virus while treating Ebola patients, despite wearing protective suits in carefully controlled environments.

Now, respected US scientist Peter Jahrling, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases where he runs the emerging viral pathogens section, believes the raging Ebola outbreak may be caused by an infection that spreads more easily than it did before.

Jahrling has been watching the current Ebola epidemic intently, and is concerned that the mutations of the virus that are circulating now appear to be more contagious than the ones that have showed up previously. (THE REST OF CARIBBEAN 360’S STORY CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING here)