Preliminary findings of two cases of Marburg virus have prompted Ghana to prepare for a possible outbreak of the disease. If confirmed, these would be the first such infections recorded in the country, and only the second in West Africa. Marburg is a highly contagious viral hemorrhagic fever from the same family as the better known Ebola virus disease.
Preliminary analysis of samples taken from two patients by the country’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research indicated the cases were positive for Marburg, and samples were sent to Senegal’s Pasteur Institute, a collaborating center of the World Health Organization (WHO), for confirmation.
The two unrelated patients from the southern Ashanti region experienced symptoms including diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting. They are both dead.
Marburg virus disease – according to WHO
Marburg virus disease is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever, with a case fatality rate of up to 88%. It belongs to the same family as the virus responsible for Ebola virus disease. Two large epidemics that occurred simultaneously in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1967 led to the initial recognition of the disease. The outbreak has been linked to laboratory work on African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) imported from Uganda. Subsequently, outbreaks and sporadic cases were reported in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa (in a recent traveler to Zimbabwe) and Uganda. In 2008, two independent cases were reported in travelers who visited a cave inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies in Uganda.
Human infection with Marburg virus disease initially results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by colonies of Rousettus bats. Once an individual is infected with the virus, Marburg can be spread by human-to-human transmission through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected individuals. , as well as with surfaces and materials. (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these liquids.
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