Ghana said on Sunday it had detected two cases of suspected COVID-19 patients. Marburg virus, as reported Futura.
The first case was a 26-year-old man who presented to hospital on June 26, 2022 and died on June 27. The second case was a 51-year-old man who presented to the hospital on June 28 and died the same day, reveals theOMS.
This hemorrhagic feverwhich is resurfacing in Africa after a year without an epidemic, is causing rapid, often fatal symptoms. The Marburg virus was first identified in 1967 in Germany, it originated at that time from experiments carried out on monkeys imported from Uganda in the city of Marburg, hence its name.
But the virus is originally carried by fruit bats, but which do not develop the disease. The virus was then transmitted to humans, or to other wild animals which then infected the humans with whom they were in contact.
Since then, several outbreaks have been reported, with fatality rate between 24 to 88%, explains the WHO.
What are the symptoms ?
The Ghanaian authorities have said that the 98 contact cases of the two people suspected of being infected are currently under quarantine, and that so far none have developed symptoms of Marburg virus disease.
The two suspected cases presented the symptoms of acute gastroenteritis. Futura explains that it all starts with a high fever and intense headaches. This is followed by abdominal cramps and diarrhea with blood in the stools for which the main risk is dehydration. There is no specific treatment for this disease.