WHO announces end of deadly Marburg virus outbreak in Equatorial Guinea

The United Nation’s health agency, in a statement, on Thursday (June 8), declared an end to a nearly four-month epidemic of Marburg virus in the Central African nation of Equatorial Guinea, with 35 confirmed or suspected deaths due to the disease. This comes days after the World Health Organization (WHO) also declared the end of the Ebola-like virusin Tanzania.

What did WHO say about Equatorial Guinea?

In a statement, the WHO said, “The outbreak of Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea ended today with no new cases reported over the past 42 days after the last patient was discharged from treatment.” The Central African nation first confirmed the outbreak on February 13 after the death of nine people in one province due to the disease.

According to data from WHO, a total of 17 laboratory-confirmed cases and 12 deaths were recorded due to the virus while all the 23 probable cases reported died. The statement added, “Four patients recovered from the virus and have been enrolled in a survivors programme to receive psychosocial and other post-recovery support.”

WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said, “While outbreak-prone diseases continue to pose a major health threat in Africa, we can bank on the region’s growing expertise in health emergency response to act quickly and decisively to safeguard the health and avert widespread loss of life.”

She added, “The hard work by Equatorial Guinea’s health workers and support by partner organizations has been crucial in ending this outbreak. WHO continues to work with countries to improve measures to detect and respond effectively to disease outbreaks.”

The UN health agency also said that the Marburg virus had affected some eight provinces in Equatorial Guinea with Bata district in Litoral province being the worst-hit in the country which reported some 11 laboratory-confirmed cases.

Tanzania declares end to deadly Marburg virus outbreak: WHO

On June 2, WHO also released a statement informing that Tanzania has declared an end to the deadly outbreak of the Marburg virus which reported a total of nine cases, out of which eight were confirmed and one was probable. Among the confirmed cases, threerecovered, while the disease claimed the lives of six in the East African country.

What is Marburg disease?

According to the WHO, the Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a highly virulent disease which comes from the same family of viruses that causes Ebola. The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused multiple and simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in the German cities of Marburg and Frankfurt, as well as the Serbian capital Belgrade.

At least seven people died after being exposed to the virus who were said to have been conducting research on monkeys. The disease was also later associated with the African green monkeys from Uganda, however, the natural carrier of the Marburg virus is the African fruit bat.

(With inputs from agencies)

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