Nine cases. That is the count reported so far in Ethiopia’s first Marburg virus outbreak, centered on the town of Jinka in the South Ethiopia Region. The country’s Ministry of Health confirmed it after lab testing of samples from a cluster of suspected viral haemorrhagic fever cases.
Genetic analysis by the Ethiopia Public Health Institute found that the virus matches the strain behind earlier outbreaks elsewhere in East Africa. Marburg belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola.
The response
National authorities are screening the community, isolating cases, treating patients and tracing contacts, and they are running public awareness campaigns. The World Health Organization and partners are backing that work. A team of responders experienced in haemorrhagic fever outbreaks has been deployed, along with medical supplies and equipment.
What the disease does
Fruit bats pass Marburg to humans. After that it moves between people through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, or through contaminated materials. The illness is severe and often fatal.
It starts with high fever, a severe headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Within a week of onset, many patients begin bleeding heavily. Several candidate treatments and vaccines are in clinical trials, but none is licensed for managing or preventing the disease. Supportive care helps: rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids and treatment of individual symptoms improve a patient’s chance of survival.
Earlier outbreaks and sporadic cases in the African region have been recorded in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
