Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia -Marburg’s deadly disease appears in Africa West to be precise, Guinea. The country even recorded one death from the disease caused by this virus.
Marburgs are carried by bats and have a mortality rate of up to 88%. The virus was discovered in a patient who died Aug. 2 in the southern Gueckedou prefecture.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also announced this Monday (9/8/2021). There is even the potential for wider spread.
“We have to stop it,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matsihidiso Moeti.
The discovery comes just two months after the WHO announced the end of the second wave of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea. Ebola re-emerged in 2020 and killed 12 people.
Meanwhile, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, WHO officials assessed this disease as a high threat at national and regional levels. But the global spread is low.
The Marburg virus is usually associated with exposure to caves or mines that host colonies of Rousettus bats. The virus is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or with contaminated surfaces and materials.
Symptoms are high fever, severe headache to discomfort. WHO asked Guinea to conduct surveillance in border areas.
Previously this disease has been found in southern Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda and Congo. But this is the first case in West Africa.
There is no vaccine to prevent this disease or an antiviral approved for treatment. Oral or intravenous rehydration is used as a treatment method.
(boss / boss)
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