Although China has not confirmed its first Ebola case, Ebola pioneer Professor Peter Piot believes the country is at risk because of its large number of Chinese workers in Africa.

Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and one of the very first medical practitioners to discover Ebola hemorrhagic fever in 1976, said Tuesday that China will soon become the potential target of the disease.

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The Belgian doctor based his statement on the high volume of Chinese workers in Africa who might bring the virus over to their home country.

"In Africa, there are many Chinese working there. So that could be a risk for China in general, and I assume that one day [an outbreak of Ebola in China] will happen," he revealed during a two-day symposium at the University of Hong Kong.

He also noted the infection control measures in mainland China were not "up to standard" and might put public health at higher risk.

Piot also estimated that the epidemic would claim thousands lives and could last another six to 12 months.

"It will get worse for a while, and then hopefully it will get better when people are isolated. What we see now is every 30 days there is a doubling of new infections," he explained.

West African countries such as Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone suffered the worst Ebola cases in history, though some other cases were also reported in the United States, Spain, Norway, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Recent World Health Organization records show that nearly 5,000 people died of the disease out of over 10,000 cases reported.

Yo prevent its further spread, Piot advised countries to consider taking precautionary measures such as the use of 'safe and cheap' blood tests that may only take as fast as 10 minutes.

TagsHealth Medical Pharma, Microbiology, Biology, medicine, Peter Piot, Ebola Virus Disease