WHO declares end to Marburg virus outbreak in Equatorial Guinea

The WHO's declaration of an end to the Marburg virus outbreak in Equatorial Guinea comes after the country recorded no new cases in the past 42 days since the last patient was discharged from hospital.

On June 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the outbreak of the Marburg virus in Equatorial Guinea , a small coastal country in central-west Africa.

The WHO statement said the decision was made after the country recorded no new cases in the past 42 days since the last patient was discharged from hospital.

WHO said there were a total of 17 laboratory-confirmed cases, 12 deaths in the community while 23 deaths were presumed to be due to the disease.

The agency added that four recovered cases have been placed under psychosocial support and will receive other support after recovery.

In addition, WHO expressed gratitude to local health workers and partner organizations for supporting the difficult response, which required tracing and isolating contacts of infected people.

The Marburg virus is highly virulent, causing high fever and often accompanied by symptoms such as bleeding and organ failure. The virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with the body fluids of infected people or through contaminated surfaces.

The virus is a relative of the Ebola virus that has caused several deadly outbreaks in West and Central Africa.

The outbreak of Marburg virus on February 13 this year was the first in Equatorial Guinea.

Since the beginning of the year, outbreaks or sporadic cases have also been recorded in Kenya, Angola, Ghana, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.

According to WHO statistics in previous outbreaks, the mortality rate due to Marburg virus infection ranged from 24%-88%./.

Minh Tam (VietnamPlus)

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