WHO confirms Marburg disease outbreak in Equatorial Guinea

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg disease.

• The Ebola-related virus is responsible for at least nine deaths in the tiny Western African country.

• Preliminary tests carried out following the deaths of nine people in the country’s western Kie Ntem Province turned out positive for the viral haemorrhagic fever.

• The WHO confirmed the epidemic after samples from Equatorial Guinea were sent to a lab in Senegal to pinpoint the cause of disease after an alert from a local health official last week.

• The UN health agency is sending medical experts to help officials in Equatorial Guinea stop the outbreak.

• Efforts are underway to rapidly mount 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 the outbreak control.

• The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. 

• Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys.

• In a 2004 outbreak in Angola, Marburg killed 90 per cent of 252 people infected. Last year, there were two reported Marburg deaths in Ghana. 

Symptoms of Marburg virus disease

• Marburg virus disease is a highly virulent disease that causes haemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of up to 88 per cent. 

• It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. 

• Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus). Though caused by different viruses, the two diseases are clinically similar. 

• Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. 

• Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days. The virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.

No vaccines available

• There are no vaccines or anti-viral treatments approved to treat the virus. However, supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival. 

• A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, as well as candidate vaccines with phase-1 data are being evaluated.

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