Ghana has officially confirmed two cases of people infected with the Marburg virus, a highly contagious disease similar to Ebola. Two people tested positive for the virus earlier this month, Reuters reported, citing the Ghanaian health service. Both died from the hemorrhagic fever that the virus causes.
Tests carried out in Ghana came back positive on July 10, but the results had to be verified by a laboratory in Senegal for the cases to be considered confirmed, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
The Ghana Health Service said it was taking measures to further reduce the risk of any further spread of the virus and had isolated all identified contacts who had not yet developed symptoms.
This is only the second reported case of Marburg fever in West Africa, Reuters notes. The first case was identified last year in Guinea and no additional cases have been identified since then. The two patients in southern Ghana developed symptoms including diarrhoea, high fever, nausea and vomiting and later died in hospitalsaid the WHO, BTA reported.
Since 1967, a dozen large nests of Marburg fever have been established, mostly in southern and eastern Africa. According to information from the WHO, the death rate from the disease in these cases varied from 24% to 88%, depending on the strain of the virus and the quality of treatment.
