Cameroon Public Health Delegate, Robert Mathurin Bidjang, reported last Tuesday that two suspected cases of Marburg disease were detected in the commune of Olamze, which is located on the border with Equatorial Guinea, for that reason border movement has been restricted to avoid transmission.

The Cameroonian official’s announcement came after Equatoguinean health authorities confirmed, for the first time, that there had been an outbreak of Marburg virus, when one in nine people who died in Kie Ntem province tested positive for the virus. This is the first epidemic alert related to this highly contagious disease on the African continent since June last year, when the Ghana Ministry of Health gave the notification at least three cases in the region.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Marburg virus, which is a microorganism from the same family as Ebola (filovirus), can cause severe dengue fever in humans and nonhuman primates, such as monkeys and gorillas.

In 1967, the first outbreaks were recorded in laboratories located in the German cities of Marburg and Frankfurt, as well as in the Serbian city of Belgrade. About 31 people were infected by the infectious microorganism, including laboratory workers and several members of the medical staff who treated them.

The Marburg virus remained dormant until 1975 when it appeared in a Zimbabwean traveler who was in South Africa, causing infection in his colleague and a nurse caring for him. Since then, Marburg outbreaks have occurred sporadically in several African countries, including two major outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1998–2000) and Angola (2005).

The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that about 50% of people who get Marburg’s disease will die. Similarly, he detailed that the death rate in previous outbreaks ranged between 24% and 88%. It depends, in large part, on the type of virus and the management of the disease.

People who contract the Marburg virus are those who have had prolonged exposure to the African fruit bat (‘Rousettus aegyptiacus’), which is usually found in caves and mines. Transmission between humans is through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person or with contaminated surfaces.

Northwell Health company doctor Harish Moorjani said the risk of the virus spreading to countries outside of Africa, such as the US and UK, was very low. However, the constant flow of travelers can expand it to other corners of the world. University of New South Wales Professor Raina MacIntyre said a lack of testing for viral dengue in countries unfamiliar with the disease could be deadly.

MacIntyre emphasizes that there is much more information about the Ebola virus than about the Marburg virus, so precautions should be taken regarding its spread, as there are no approved vaccines or treatments for this filovirus.

PrisonerInArgentina.com

February 21, 2023