What is marburg virus? Should you be worried?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Ghana’s first outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) after labs confirmed the infections in two cases.

It is in the same family as the virus responsible for Ebola, and causes a very infectious hemorrhagic fever.

Both the patients who had tested positive of the virus have died and more than 90 contacts have been identified and are being monitored, the WHO said.

What is it? Marburg virus disease, formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever and the average case fatality rate is around 50%.

Transmission: The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through human-to-human transmission.

Marburg spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people.

#Ghana 🇬🇭 recently confirmed its first ever outbreak of the #Marburg virus.

Here’s everything to know about the disease👇🏿#ViralFactsAfrica @viralfacts pic.twitter.com/Chi2lR1dZ1

— WHO African Region (@WHOAFRO) July 21, 2022

Symptoms: Illness caused by Marburg virus begins with high fever, severe headache and muscle aches and severe malaise. Severe watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramping, nausea and vomiting can begin on the third day.

Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic manifestations between 5 and 7 days, and fatal cases usually have some form of bleeding, often from multiple areas. In fatal cases, death occurs most often between 8 and 9 days after symptom onset, the WHO said.

Diagnosis: In most cases, it is difficult to distinguish MVD from malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, meningitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers. Tests like ELISA, antigen-capture detection tests, serum neutralisation tests are used to diagnose that the disease is MVD.

Facts About the Marburg Virus Disease 🦠 pic.twitter.com/iUBMhIgYWd

— Disease Surveillance Dept_GHS (@DSD_GHS) July 22, 2022

Treatment: Early supportive care with rehydration, and symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralise the virus, but a range of blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently under development.

Outbreak in Ghana: Two fatal cases of Marburg virus disease (MVD) were reported from the Ashanti region of Ghana. On 28, these cases were notified to health authorities as suspected viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) cases and tested positive July 1.

The first case was a 26-year-old male who was a farm worker in Adansi North district, Ashanti region. He died on June 27. The second case was a 51-year-old male who was a farm worker in Bekwai Municipal, Ashanti region. He died on June 28.