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The virus is similar to Ebola, which has spread several times in West Africa. Photo: Reuters.
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The health authorities in Guinea have confirmed a death from the Marburg virus, a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization announced on Monday / p> It is the first time the deadly disease has been identified in West Africa. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
Guinea’s new case was first identified last week, just two months after the country left after a brief outbreak earlier this year that killed 12 people. was declared Ebola-free.
The patient, who has since succumbed to the disease, first sought treatment at a local clinic before his condition rapidly deteriorated, according to the WHO statement.
Analysts of the National Hemorrhagic Fever Laboratory in Guinea and the Pasteur Institute in Senegal later confirmed the Marburg diagnosis.
« The potential for the Marburg virus to spread means we have to stop it, » said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO- Regional Director for Africa, in the statement.
“We are working with health authorities to implement a rapid response based on Guinea’s experience and expertise in dealing with Ebola, which is transmitted in a similar way, « said Moeti.
Both the Marburg case and this year’s Ebola cases were discovered in the Gueckedou district of Guinea near the border with Liberia and Ivory Coast. The first cases of the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, the largest in history, also came from the same region in the forest region of Southeast Guinea.
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Mortality rates in Marburg have fluctuated from 24 to 88 percent with previous outbreaks, depending on the virus strain and case management, the WHO said, adding that transmission occurs through contact with infected body fluids and tissues. Symptoms are headache, vomiting of blood, muscle pain and bleeding through various body orifices.
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