The Marburg virus caused 2 more deaths

The Minister of Health of Equatorial Guinea, Mitoha Ondo’o Ayekaba, announced that 2 new deaths were registered due to the Marburg virus disease.

Stating that they identified 48 people in contact with those who lost their lives, Ayekaba stated that 7 people in contact were under observation.

The World Health Organization announced on February 14 that tests for viral hemorrhagic fever came back positive after at least 9 deaths in the western state of Kie-Ntem.

MARBURG VIRUSES

The Marburg virus, said to be a close relative of Ebola, was first detected in a laboratory in Marburg, Germany, in 1967.

The Marburg virus, which is transmitted by fruit bats, spreads between humans through bodily fluids or contact with infected people. Symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, weakness, and vomiting occur suddenly in infected individuals, and many patients develop severe bleeding symptoms within 7 days.

The mortality rate of the Marburg virus, which has no vaccine or special treatment, varies between 23 and 90 percent.

In the Marburg virus outbreak in Angola in 2005, 90 percent of the 252 people infected with the virus died. (AA)