PARIS (AFP) - The French and US presidents Francois Hollande and Barack Obama on Monday urged "stepped-up" international efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic ravaging three west African countries.

The two leaders, speaking by telephone, stressed the need for "a stepped-up mobilisation of the international community and the European Union, in close coordination with the United Nations, the WHO (World Health Organisation) and the countries concerned," Hollande's office said in a statement.

The epidemic has claimed more than 4,000 lives this year with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone most affected.