Guinea health officials have confirmed West Africa’s first case of Marburg, a highly infectious disease in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it’s the first case of the Ebola-like virus in West Africa.
The WHO statement added that the detection comes less than two months after Guinea declared an end to its most recent Ebola outbreak, reports CNN News.
“Gueckedou, where Marburg has been confirmed, is also the same region where cases of the 2021 Ebola outbreak in Guinea as well as 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak were initially detected,” according to the WHO statement.
“Samples taken from a now-deceased patient and tested by a field laboratory in Gueckedou as well as Guinea’s national hemorrhagic fever laboratory turned out positive for the Marburg virus. Further analysis by the Institut Pasteur in Senegal confirmed the result.”
According to the BBC, the Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads between humans through the transmission of bodily fluids. Cases are extremely rare with the last major outbreak in Angola in 2005.
Interestingly, both the Marburg case and this year’s Ebola cases were detected in Guinea’s Gueckedou district, near the borders with Liberia and Ivory Coast. The first cases of the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, the largest in history, also were from the same region in south-eastern Guinea’s forest region.
Health authorities are now attempting to determine how many people were in close contact with the infected man. So far, 145 people have been identified and have been told to self-isolate, reports USA Today.
“We applaud the alertness and the quick investigative action by Guinea’s health workers. The potential for the Marburg virus to spread far and wide means we need to stop it in its tracks,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement.
“We are working with the health authorities to implement a swift response that builds on Guinea’s past experience and expertise in managing Ebola, which is transmitted in a similar way.”
It is still unknown how the man contracted the virus, however, back in January, CDC scientists identified the active circulation of the Marburg virus in bat colonies for the first time in Sierra Leone, according to a study published today in Nature Communications.
The study is the first time Marburg virus has been found in West Africa and the first time an Angola-like strain has been found in Egyptian rousette bats.
The Marburg virus is extremely dangerous
Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus). Though caused by different viruses, the two diseases are clinically similar. Human infection from the Marburg virus results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by rousette bat colonies.
The incubation period (interval from infection to onset of symptoms) varies from 2 to 21 days. Onset of the illness begins abruptly, with a high fever, severe headache, and severe malaise. Muscle aches and pains are common features.
Severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramping, nausea, and vomiting can begin on the third day and usually lasts for a week.
Many patients develop severe hemorrhagic manifestations between 5 and 7 days, and fatal cases usually have some form of bleeding, often from multiple areas. Fresh blood in vomitus and feces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums, and vagina.
There are no vaccines or specific treatments for the Marburg disease, although doctors say drinking plenty of water and treating specific symptoms improves a patient’s chances of survival.
.jpg){kind=link}
