Guinea declares end of Marburg virus outbreak

Guinea declares end of Marburg virus outbreak

Growing expertise in outbreak response averted spillover of virus, says WHO official

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - Guinea on Thursday declared the end of a Marburg virus outbreak in the country after having recorded no new cases over the past 42 days, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

The WHO said that Guinea's health authorities, with WHO support, promptly mounted an emergency response, deploying expert teams to carry out further investigations, step up disease surveillance, assess the risks and bolster community mobilization, testing and clinical care as well as infection prevention and control measures.

“Without immediate and decisive action, highly infectious diseases like Marburg can easily get out of hand,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti.

“Today we can point to the growing expertise in outbreak response in Guinea and the region that has saved lives, contained and averted a spillover of the Marburg virus.”

The virus was confirmed on Aug. 9 in Guinea, the first time to be reported in the country and in West Africa.

Marburg, a highly infectious virus that causes hemorrhagic fever, was detected in southern Guinea, the same region where the initial cases of the February-June 2021 Ebola outbreak and the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak were detected.

Marburg, which falls in the same family as Ebola, is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people and contaminated surfaces and materials.

Previous outbreaks have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Angola and South Africa. ​​​​​​​

Kaynak:Source of News

This news has been read 203 times in total

ADD A COMMENT to TO THE NEWS
UYARI: Küfür, hakaret, rencide edici cümleler veya imalar, inançlara saldırı içeren, imla kuralları ile yazılmamış,
Türkçe karakter kullanılmayan ve büyük harflerle yazılmış yorumlar onaylanmamaktadır.
Previous and Next News