Equatorial Guinea has confirmed another eight cases of the deadly and "highly virulent” Marburg virus, bringing its total to nine since an outbreak was declared last month. Meanwhile, a total of eight cases have been recorded in Tanzania, Sky News reports.
Marburg virus causes Ebola-like symptoms including haemorrhagic fever, which can result in people bleeding to death. It currently has no vaccine or treatment and depending on the strain of the virus, has a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent.
The two outbreaks of Marburg in Africa, on opposite sides of the continent, could lead to a new push to fast-track testing of vaccines by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Five of the eight victims in the east African country of Tanzania have died, including a health worker.
"Our pathogen genomics team will sequence samples from both places ... and see if there is a relationship between the current two outbreaks," the acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell, said. He added that results should be known within the week.
The WHO said the new cases in Equatorial Guinea, which lies on the west coast of Africa, were found in the provinces of Kie Ntem, Litoral and Centro Sur, which all have borders with Cameroon and Gabon.
"The areas reporting cases are about 150km (93 miles) apart, suggesting wider transmission of the virus," the United Nations agency said.
Meanwhile, the website Health Policy Watch reported that the WHO hopes to be able to fast-track the testing of Marburg candidate vaccines following the African outbreaks. “WHO is leading an effort to evaluate candidate vaccines and therapeutics in the context of the outbreak,” WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing.
“The developers are on board, the clinical trial protocols are ready. The experts and donors are ready. Once the national government and the researchers give the green light." Four or five candidate vaccines already have doses ready for human trials, WHO’s Dr Ana Maria Restrepo said.
Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in bats and spreads between people via close contact with bodily fluids or surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets.
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Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the WHO. Tanzania's current outbreak is its first.
The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people died after being exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys.
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