A first case of Marburg virus disease, a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever, has been recorded in Guinea, the very first case in West Africa, the WHO said on Monday.
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Marburg virus disease, which belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease, was detected less than two months after Guinea declared the end of the Ebola epidemic that had erupted at the start of the year,
”the regional office of the World Health Organization said in a statement.
A team dispatched to the site
The case was detected in the prefecture of Guéckédou, in the south of the country.
Samples taken from a patient who died on Monday and tested by a field laboratory in Guéckédou as well as by the Guinean national laboratory for hemorrhagic fever have tested positive for the Marburg virus.
Additional analyzes carried out by the Pasteur Institute in Senegal confirmed this result, the WHO said.
Read also: WHO declares the end of the second Ebola epidemic in Guinea
The patient had been treated in a clinic in the locality of Koundou in Guéckédou, where a medical investigation team had been dispatched to study the worsening of his symptoms. A first team of ten WHO experts, including epidemiologists and socio-anthropologists, is already in the field and providing support to national health authorities who are working to conduct a thorough investigation as quickly as possible, and to intensify interventions in the field. Emergency ranging from risk assessment to disease surveillance, community mobilization and screening, clinical care, infection control and the provision of logistical support. In addition, cross-border surveillance is being stepped up so that a possible case can be quickly detected.Neighboring countries are on alert.
Transmission by bats
Marburg virus disease is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and is spread in humans through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, or with surfaces and materials, according to the WHO.
The disease begins suddenly, with a high fever, severe headache and possible discomfort.
Case fatality rates have ranged from 24% to 88% in previous outbreaks, depending on the virus strain and case management, the organization also says.
Although there are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat the virus, oral or intravenous rehydration and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival rates.