The World Health Organization called the Ebola outbreak "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times" but also said Monday that economic disruptions can be curbed if people are adequately informed to prevent irrational moves to dodge infection.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, citing World Bank figures, said 90 percent of economic costs of any outbreak "come from irrational and disorganized efforts of the public to avoid infection."

A Texas health care worker has become the first person to contract Ebola on American soil, authorities confirmed Sunday, blaming a safety breach for the spread of the deadly disease.

The new Ebola patient, the second person infected outside Africa and the second diagnosed in the United States, had treated a man at a Dallas hospital who died of Ebola last week.

Israeli and Palestinian officials met at the weekend to draw up an action plan to prevent the Ebola epidemic from spreading to the territories they control, the Israeli military said Sunday.

"During the meeting (on Saturday evening), updates were exchanged between the parties, and transfer of information was agreed upon by way of additional meetings to take place in order to further track the issue," said COGAT, the defense ministry unit responsible for Palestinian civilian coordination.

Israeli and Palestinian officials met at the weekend to draw up an action plan to prevent the Ebola epidemic from spreading to the territories they control, the Israeli military said Sunday.

"During the meeting (on Saturday evening), updates were exchanged between the parties, and transfer of information was agreed upon by way of additional meetings to take place in order to further track the issue," said COGAT, the defense ministry unit responsible for Palestinian civilian coordination.

U.S. regulators on Friday approved Harvoni, a daily pill to treat hepatitis C that is simpler to administer than long-standing treatments but that carries a steep price tag.

The combination pill made by California-based Gilead Sciences was shown in trials to cure up to 99 percent of patients within two to three months.

A newlywed U.S. woman with terminal cancer has announced plans online to end her life on November 1 to die with dignity and without debilitating pain.

In January, Brittany Maynard, 29, was given six months to live due to brain cancer, and told her death would be long and painful because of the aggressive nature of the disease. 

Jitters in the U.S. over Ebola were underlined Friday after an air passenger's joke sparked a full-on alert, while another plane was quarantined at Las Vegas airport because someone vomited onboard.

In the joke incident, a Hazmat (hazardous materials) team in blue suits boarded a U.S. Airways Flight from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday.

The death toll from Ebola has passed 4,000, the World Health Organization said, while a Madrid nurse was fighting for her life Saturday as authorities worldwide tried to prevent panic over the deadly disease.

The WHO said 4,033 people have died from Ebola as of October 8 out of a total of 8,399 registered cases in seven countries. The sharp rise in deaths came as the UN said aid pledges to fight the outbreak have fallen well short of the $1 billion (800 million euros) needed.

HIV campaigners on Friday said British political leader Nigel Farage, whose party has just won its first seat in parliament, should be "truly ashamed" after calling for an immigration ban on people carrying the virus.

The Terrence Higgins Trust, Britain's oldest HIV and Aids charity, said comments made by the leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party as polls were closing in the Clacton by-election -- won by his candidate Douglas Carswell -- displayed a "new level of ignorance".

As the morning sun rises over the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi in the Sahara, men and women dig holes for tourists who want to bury themselves in the sand.