EQUATORIAL Guinea has confirmed up to nine new cases of the “highly virulent” Marburg virus, as experts fear international spread.
Marburg virus is an infectious disease that has a 90 per cent fatality rate and, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), epidemic potential.
AFPThe outbreak has spread from rural districts to the main port of the African nation, Bata, increasing the risk of international transmission[/caption]
Map of Marburg deaths in Africa since February 2023
It currently has no known vaccine or treatment.
The new diagnoses bring the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 14 and of those, ten have died since the outbreak was declared in mid-February, official health data suggests.
There is also an additional eight suspected cases in the country. And 20 probable cases, all of which have died, according the WHO said in a statement.
The outbreak has spread from rural districts to the main port of the African nation, Bata, increasing the risk of international transmission.
It comes after the WHO said the “the risk of international spread [or Marburg] cannot be ruled out”.
At least four cases have now been detected in the city, which has a population of around 200,000 people, an international airport and links to several neighbouring countries.
Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania are facing their first known outbreaks of the bug, a viral fever with uncontrolled bleeding that closely resembles it’s cousin, Ebola.
As of March 22, Tanzania has had eight confirmed cases, including five deaths.
Some 34 people in Africa have died of Marburg since February 2023, reports suggest.
Last week, a mysterious ‘nosebleed’ disease claimed the lives of three people in Burundi, west Africa.
The symptoms appear to point towards some sort of viral haemorrhagic fever, which damages the walls of tiny blood vessels making them leak, such as Marburg and Ebola.
However the Burundian Ministry of Health has already ruled out both illnesses.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged travellers to both countries to avoid contact with sick people and to watch for symptoms for three weeks after leaving the area.
Travellers to Equatorial Guinea should take enhanced precautions and avoid nonessential travel to the provinces where the outbreak is ongoing, the agency said.
Other countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait have urged travellers to avoid visiting the two countries altogether.
While Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, has implemented compulsory screening for those people arriving from African countries.
FROM BATS
Marburg is transmitted to people from fruit bats, and it can spread between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces and materials, the WHO said.
No treatment or vaccine exists for Marburg.
In 2014-16 the largest outbreak of Ebola since 1970 began in Guinea.
The 13 symptoms of Marburg you need to know
Symptoms can vary depending on how long you’ve had the bug
After two days:
fever
chills
headache
myalgia
After five days:
chest rash
jaundice
inflammation of the pancreas
severe weight loss
delirium
shock
liver failure
massive hemorrhaging
and multi-organ dysfunction
Source: Centre for Disease Control
Cases were recorded in Nigeria, the US, UK, Spain and Italy.
There were 28,616 suspected, probable and confirmed cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and 11,310 deaths.
There have been a dozen major Marburg outbreaks since it was discovered in Marburg, Germany, in 1967.
Cases have mostly been in southern and eastern Africa, including Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, WHO said.