Two people have been killed by an extremely contagious virus similar to Ebola in Ghana.
Health chiefs said a lab had returned positive Marburg virus results from two men, aged 26 and 51, who died last month.
Marburg is a highly infectious viral haemorrhagic fever that is similar to the more well-known Ebola virus but with a much higher death rate at a lethal 88 per cent.
This is the first time the virus has been detected in Ghana and is only the second-ever outbreak in West Africa.
The two patients showed symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting and were identified in Ghana’s southern Ashanti region, but only after they had died.
Dr Tom Fletcher, an infectious disease consultant at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, told the Telegraph that delayed diagnosis often means that healthcare workers have been exposed and means there could be further undetected cases.
"Marburg can easily get out of hand,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.
More than 90 contacts, including health workers and community members, of the two deceased, have been identified and are being closely monitored.
The virus is transmitted to people by fruit bats and spreads among humans via bodily fluids and contact with materials such as bedding and clothes.
The WHO says "severe watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramping, nausea and vomiting can begin on the third day", followed by "severe haemorrhagic manifestations" between days five and seven that may include bleeding from the nose, gums and vagina.
Dr Fletcher told the Telegraph that the outbreak should be cause for "serious concern", particularly in countries that have not managed outbreaks before and when cases are diagnosed postmortem.
Unlike Ebola, there are currently no vaccines or antiviral treatments for the Marburg virus.
But patients can take oral or intravenous rehydration and get specific symptoms treated to better their chances of survival, the WHO said.
Ghanaian health authorities have urged the public to avoid mines and caves occupied by fruit bats and to thoroughly cook all meat products before consumption, to help reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
