On Monday, authorities in Equatorial Guinea announced the country’s first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease in the same virus family as Ebola.
In the country’s western Kie Ntem province, nine people are suspected of dying from viral hemorrhagic fever.
Further tests on one sample, which was collected and shipped to the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, revealed that it was positive.
According to the World Health Organization, 16 people have been quarantined as possible contact cases. The health organization has sent a team of experts to the area to assist health workers.
Preliminary investigations, according to the country’s Health Minister Mitoha Ondo’o Ayekaba, have linked the deaths to people who attended a funeral ceremony.
Movement has been restricted in the vicinity of two villages where the majority of cases have been reported. The search for contacts is currently underway.
This is the country’s first outbreak and the third in West Africa. Ghana confirmed one case last year, and Guinea confirmed one the year before.
The virus is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spreads between humans through bodily fluids.
Although there are no vaccines or treatments available, those who have been diagnosed are advised to drink plenty of water while doctors treat their specific symptoms.
Previous Marburg outbreaks and isolated cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda.
