Newsbreak: Virus similar to Ebola hit West Africa
Marburg virus, similar to the deadly Ebola has hit Guinea, the West African country.
Reports monitored by Irohinoodua indicated that at least one person has died of the deadly virus said to be similar to Ebola.
Mrs Morenike Adisa a state health official in Lagos told Irohinoodua that the outbreak of Marboug virus in Guinea is a warning to Nigerian authorities to take precautions.
The World Health Organisation, (WHO) reported that the disease is a highly virulent disease that causes haemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of up to 88 percent.
“It is in the same family as the virus.Marburg virus disease (MVD), formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans”reports the WHO.
The virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever in humans.
The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks depending on virus strain and case management.
Early supportive care with rehydration, and symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is as yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus, but a range of blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently under development.
Rueters in Conakry reports Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization says.
It marks the first time that the deadly disease has been identified in west Africa.
There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
Guinea’s new case was first identified last week, just two months after the country was declared free of Ebola following a brief flare-up earlier this year that killed 12 people.
Guinea Ebola outbreak declared over by WHO
The patient, who has since succumbed to the illness, first sought treatment at a local clinic before his condition rapidly deteriorated, the WHO said on Monday.
Analysts at Guinea’s national haemorrhagic fever laboratory and the Institute Pasteur in Senegal later confirmed the Marburg diagnosis.
