EUROPE must come together to do more to tackle outbreaks like Ebola, according to the man who discovered the disease almost 40 years ago.

Prof Peter Piot has warned exposure to future threats from viruses would remain unless action was taken.

As reported by the Daily Echo, Hampshire has been heavily involved in work fighting the disease in West Africa, including Nursling-based firm Primerdesign Ltd who developed a screening kit that it is hoped could save thousands of lives.

And Bishop’s Waltham nurse Natalie Mounter cancelled her festive plans to head out to Sierra Leone to join the frontline support on Christmas Day.

Now Belgian national Prof Piot, who discovered the virus in Zaire in 1976 while working at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, has spoken of his shock at how much devastation the disease has caused, although efforts to fight it are “paying off”.

He said poor health systems where the outbreak began meant a delay in diagnosing it, but added that the staggering spread since then was ''avoidable''.

The World Health Organisation has previously admitted that it was slow to deal with the spread of the disease, declaring it an international health emergency in August, only after around 1,000 people had died.

Ebola has claimed more than 7,000 lives in west Africa since the outbreak at the beginning of the year.

The UK has been a part of the aid effort in Africa in many ways, including the deployment of hundreds of NHS staff and British troops, building treatment centres, providing emergency supplies and millions in funding.