A child in Ghana has died from the highly contagious Ebola-like Marburg virus, a Ghanaian official said today. World Health Organization (WHO). His death brings the country’s total number of deaths since the first outbreak in Ghana’s history last month to three.

The virus outbreak is only the second recorded in West Africa. The first case of the virus in the region was recorded last year in Guinea.

The virus is transmitted to humans by a species of large bat and spreads between people through direct contact with bodily fluids, contaminated surfaces and materials, according to the WHO.

The child who died, whose gender and age were not released, was one of two new cases reported by the WHO last week.

“Last week I reported two additional cases. One is the wife of “patient zero” and the second is his child, who unfortunately died, but the wife is alive and getting better” WHO doctor Ibrahima Sotse Fall told reporters, as reported by Reuters and relayed by the Athens News Agency.

Her Ministry of Health Ghana has reported just three confirmed cases, and further testing is required in one suspected case, she said.

The first two cases, recorded in Ghana’s Ashanti region, both had symptoms such as diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting before they ended up in hospital, the WHO said earlier.