( CNN ) -- An outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa has spread to Guinea 's capital and beyond its borders in an `` unprecedented epidemic , '' a leading aid agency reported Monday . A total of 122 patients are suspected of contracting Ebola and 78 have died , Doctors Without Borders said . Most victims have been in Guinea , but the World Health Organization reported Sunday that two deaths in Sierra Leone and one in Liberia are suspected to have been caused by the Ebola virus . Cases have been identified in three provinces in Guinea near the borders and in Conakry , its coastal capital , said Mariano Lugli , the Doctors Without Borders coordinator there . `` We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country , '' Lugli said in a statement issued by the organization . Previous outbreaks `` were much more geographically contained and involved more remote locations , '' he said . `` This geographical spread is worrisome , because it will greatly complicate the tasks of the organizations working to control the epidemic , '' Lugli said . The organization , also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres ( MSF ) describes Ebola as `` one of the world 's most deadly diseases . '' It spreads in the blood and shuts down the immune system , causing high fever , headache and muscle pain . It is rare but creates panic , because there is no cure and it 's fatal in up to 90 % of cases , according to MSF . The variant seen in the Guinea outbreak is the so-called Zaire strain , which Lugli called `` the most aggressive and deadly . ''
Ebola toll rises to 78 in Guinea . Cases have been suspected or confirmed in Liberia , Sierra Leone . Comment: