The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Ghana’s first-ever Marburg virus outbreak after two people died in June 2022 after testing positive for the illness.
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According to the WHO, Marburg is a highly contagious viral hemorrhagic fever that belongs to the same virus family as the more well-known Ebola virus disease.
A 26-year-old man and a 51-year-old man in Ghana died in a hospital in late June after checking themselves in with symptoms of diarrhoea, fever, nausea, and vomiting. They were unrelated.
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More than 90 people who came into contact with them are being monitored. Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda have all reported cases and outbreaks of the Marburg virus with connections to Zimbabwe.
An outbreak was declared in Guinea in 2021 and lasted for five weeks, after a single case of the virus.
The Marburg virus cannot currently be cured, but its symptoms can be managed with treatment.
Its signs include a high fever, excruciating headaches, and frequent muscle aches and pains. Severe diarrhoea, stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting may start on the third day after infection.
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