Since the start of the epidemic, 13 cases of Marburg disease have been confirmed in Equatorial Guinea, a country in Central Africa, according to its health officials, who made the announcement on Wednesday after the director of the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the government of the Central African nation to formally disclose any new cases.
The WHO describes Marburg virus illness as a viral hemorrhagic fever with a fatality rate that can reach 88%.
Fever, exhaustion, nausea as well as diarrhea stained with blood are symptoms. There are no authorized vaccines or antiviral medications to treat it. Marburg, which belongs to the same virus family as the deadly Ebola illness, is spread to humans by fruit bats.
Since the start of the epidemic, nine people have died and one patient has recovered, according to a tweet from Equatorial Guinea’s health minister, Antonio Martin Ndong Ntutumu, which also noted that 825 contacts have since been identified.
The WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated earlier on Wednesday that the organization was informed of additional cases and had requested that the government formally report them to the organization.
