A child who contracted the highly infectious Ebola-like Marburg virus in Ghana has died, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday.
The death brings the total number of victims in the country to three since Ghana recorded its first outbreak of the disease last month. The outbreak is the second in West Africa. The first case of the virus in the region was detected last year in Guinea.
The virus is transmitted to people by fruit bats and spreads between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces and materials, according to the WHO.
The dead child, whose sex or age has not been released, was one of two new cases reported last week by the WHO.
“Last week I mentioned the two additional cases. One is the index case’s wife and the other is the index case’s son and the child has unfortunately died but the wife is still alive and improving,” WHO doctor Ibrahima Soce Fall told the press.
Ghana’s Ministry of Health has reported only three confirmed cases and more testing still needs to be done on a fourth suspected case, Soce Fall said.
The first two cases, in the Ashanti region of southern Ghana, showed symptoms including diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, before dying in hospital, the WHO said earlier.
about the disease
Marburg is a hemorrhagic fever, caused by a highly infectious virus in the same family as the Ebola virus. Ghana, in West Africa, faces the first outbreak of the disease. The cases were confirmed by a laboratory at the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center.
The virus is transmitted to people by fruit-eating bats and spreads between humans through direct contact with contaminated body fluids, surfaces and materials.
The illness, which begins abruptly, presents with a high fever, severe headache and malaise. The incubation period of the disease varies from 2 to 21 days. Patients develop severe bleeding signs within seven days.
According to the WHO, case fatality rates have ranged from 24% to 88% in previous outbreaks, depending on the virus strain and capacity for case management.
While there are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat the virus, supportive care — such as rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids — and treating specific symptoms reduces the risk of death.
Several potential treatments, including blood products, immune and drug therapies, as well as vaccine candidates with phase 1 data, are being evaluated.
(With input from Lucas Rocha of CNN; Editing: Andrew Heavens and Angus MacSwan)
Source: CNN Brasil
