The Ghanaian health authorities confirmed this Saturday the discovery of two patients with the Marburg virus, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, which are the first cases of this type registered in the African country.
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The regional office for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) explained that, according to the initial analysis of the samples taken, both people tested positive.
The two patients lived in the southern Ashanti region and were not related to each other. After presenting symptoms such as diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting, they were taken to a hospital, but later died.
If the diagnosis is definitive, which must be confirmed in Senegal, it would be the second Marburg outbreak in West Africa, following a first case of the virus was detected last year in Guinea (Conakry), with no more cases identified.
At the same time, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in other parts of the continent such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, health authorities are on the ground investigating the situation and preparing for a possible response to the outbreak.”
The disease consists of highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever. It is part of the Ebola virus family. It was first identified in 1967, when outbreaks were reported in Marburg, Frankfurt, and Belgrade.
Previously it was called Marburg hemorrhagic fever, where due to its severity, it is also considered deadly. No treatment has been shown to be effective in neutralizing the virus, says the World Health Organization (WHO).
