Equatorial Guinea confirms first-ever Marburg virus disease outbreak
By Nde Laura
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first ever outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease, following the deaths of at least nine persons in Kie-Ntem province, bordering Cameroon in the South region.
The information was disclosed by its Health Minister, Mitoha Ondo’o Ayekaba on February 13th.
A report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), states that preliminary tests carried out following the unexplained deaths of about nine people in the country’s western Kie Ntem province turned out positive for viral hemorrhagic fever.
According to the minister, samples collected from the deceased were sent to the Institut Pasteur reference laboratory in Senegal with support from World Health Organization (WHO) to determine the cause of the disease after an alert by a district health official on 7 February.
Of the eight samples tested, one reportedly turned out positive for the fever virus. The WHO says further investigations are ongoing.
However, advanced teams have been deployed in the affected districts to trace contacts, isolate and provide medical care to people showing symptoms of the disease. Efforts are also underway to rapidly mount an emergency response, with WHO deploying health emergency experts in epidemiology, case management, infection prevention, laboratory, and risk communication to support the national response efforts and secure community collaboration in outbreak control.
Marburg virus—discovered by virologists in Marburg following a 1976 outbreak in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and Belgrade, is a member of the Filoviridae family and is as deadly as the Ebola virus, also a member of Filoviridae.
Marburg virus can be transmitted to humans from fruit bats and spread through human-to-human transmission. In 2004, Angola faced the largest known outbreak of the virus disease, which had a 90% fatality rate, with 227 deaths among 252 infected people. In July 2022, after almost 18 years, two cases of Marburg virus disease were identified in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Cameroon’s Minister of Public health, Dr. Manaouda Malachie, has restricted movement between the Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea border, and calls on the population to report any death or symptoms of hemorrhagic fever as the risk of importation is very high.
He urges the population to respect all protective measures and assures that response mechanisms have been put in place to prevent the spread.
