The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing for a possible Marburg virus outbreak in Ghana after two people tested positive for the virus and died.
Marburg is a highly virulent disease in the same family as the Ebola virus disease. It causes haemorrhagic fever with a fatality ratio of up to 88%.
Samples from the two unrelated patients were positive for Marburg, according to Ghana’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
The samples have also been sent to a WHO Collaborating Centre in Senegal for confirmation.
If the findings corroborate, this would be the first Marburg virus infections recorded in the country.
The two patients from the southern Ashanti region showed symptoms, including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting.
The virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and can spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.
Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic fever within a week. This fever affects the body’s organs and can damage the body’s cardiovascular system.
Symptoms often include bleeding or haemorrhaging.
According to the WHO, case fatality rates range from 24-88% in past outbreaks.
Dr Francis Kasolo, the WHO representative in Ghana, said they are ramping up contact tracing to control the spread of the virus.
“The health authorities are on the ground investigating the situation and preparing for a possible outbreak response,” he said.
Previous outbreaks and sporadic cases of Marburg in Africa have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
To date, 14 outbreaks of Marburg virus disease have been reported since the initial recognition of the disease in 1967.
The outbreak was linked to laboratory work using African green monkeys imported from Uganda.
Ghana has announced the preliminary finding of two cases of #Marburg virus disease and if confirmed these would the first such infections recorded in the country
— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) July 7, 2022
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