Things to know about the dreaded Marburg virus disease
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Loading... - Vanina Maxime
- 18 Aug 2022
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Health authorities in Ghana have officially confirmed two cases of the highly infectious Marburg virus in the country, after two people who later died, tested positive for the virus on July 10.
A total of 98 people identified as contact cases are currently under quarantine, the Ghana Health Service said, noting that no other cases of Marburg had yet been detected in the country.
In Africa, previous outbreaks have been reported in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. Other outbreaks have also been reported in Europe and the United States.
Here is what we know about the disease.
What is the Marburg virus disease (MVD)?
According to the CDC, the Marburg virus disease is a severe hemorrhagic fever that is caused by the Marburg virus.
First identified in 1967 in Germany and what was then Yugoslavia after research on imported African green monkeys, the Marburg virus is from the same family as Ebola.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infection with the virus disease “initially results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies.”
Once an individual is infected, the disease can spread through human-to-human transmission, and this can happen through direct contact with the blood, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected people and through surfaces and materials that are already contaminated with these fluids. Read More...
