Deadly Ebola-like virus kills nine in Equatorial Guinea, WHO sends teams

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea:

Nine people have died in Equatorial Guinea from an “outbreak” of the Marburg virus, which makes a hemorrhagic fever as deadly as Ebola, the health minister said on Monday, announcing that one province had been placed in quarantine .

The government announced last week that it was investigating the cause of suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever in the densely forested eastern region near the borders with Gabon and Cameroon on Africa’s central west coast, but said only three people had “mild symptoms”. symptoms” appeared.

Health Minister Mitoha Ondo’o Ayakaba told a news conference that a health alert had been declared in Ki-Ntem province and the neighboring district of Mongomo, with a “lockdown plan in force” following consultations with the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

He said the quarantine in Ki-Ntem is affecting 4,325 people.

The nine deaths occurred between January 7 and February 7, the minister said, adding tests are yet to be done on the “suspicious” death at the hospital on February 10.

Marburg virus is a highly virulent pathogen that causes severe fever, often with bleeding, and often targets multiple organs and impairs the body’s ability to function on its own.

It is part of the so-called filovirus family that also includes the Ebola virus, which has wreaked havoc in several previous outbreaks in Africa.

The natural host of Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, which carries the virus but does not become ill.

But animals can transmit the virus to primates in close proximity, including humans, and human-to-human transmission then occurs through contact with blood or other bodily fluids.

According to the WHO, the fatality rate in confirmed cases has ranged from 24 percent to 88 percent in previous outbreaks, depending on the strain of the virus and the management of the case.

high alert

The WHO said in a statement on Monday that in addition to the nine deaths, 16 other people in Ki-Antem had shown suspicious symptoms, including fever and vomiting blood.

This marks the first Marburg outbreak in the Central African country, although it has noted previous outbreaks and sporadic cases in other parts of Africa, including Angola, DR Congo, Guinea, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

Last July, Ghana reported two Marburg deaths for the first time, which were also the first cases in West Africa. Officials declared the end of the outbreak in September.

Previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in other parts of Africa – Angola, DR Congo, Guinea, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

The virus takes between two and 21 days to incubate, causing sudden symptoms of high fever, headache, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea – symptoms that can make Marburg difficult to diagnose initially, as they Typhoid and malaria are similar.

The WHO said it had sent special teams to support local authorities in Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich state led by authoritarian President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979.

Gabon and Cameroon had already implemented testing and border controls or restrictions in some areas after Equatorial Guinea announced suspected Marburg cases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)