Marburg virus is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. It is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever.
Equatorial Guinea in the African continent has confirmed another eight cases of the 'highly virulent' Marburg virus. The country's total number of cases reached nine. The virus is a deadly hemorrhagic fever with no authorised vaccine or treatment. An outbreak of the virus was also reported in Tanzania's northwest Kagera region, officials said.
Tanzania this week announced eight cases of Marburg, including five deaths. One of the people killed was a health worker. The WHO said the new cases in Equatorial Guinea were found in the provinces of Kie Ntem, Litoral and Centro Sur, all with borders with Cameroon and Gabon.
While Tanzania`s Ministry of Health on Tuesday declared the first outbreak of the deadly disease in the country, which has killed five people, with three others admitted to hospitals.
What is Marburg virus?
Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in bats. It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. It is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever. It spreads between people via close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, or surfaces, like contaminated bed sheets.
Illness caused by the Marburg virus presents abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. Many patients develop severe hemorrhagic symptoms within seven days, and vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat the virus are yet to be approved. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88 per cent of people who fall ill with the disease.
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The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys.
Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the WHO.
(With inputs from PTI)
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