Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Guinea, one of the countries in West Africa, is not only facing a wave of corona viruses, but also other viruses that are equally contagious.
Health authorities in Guinea are currently monitoring 155 people suspected of having close contact with a confirmed case of the Marburg virus. This dengue-like disease is highly contagious, like Ebola.
Georges Ki-Zerbo, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) head of state in Guinea, said the Marburg virus circulates through animals, particularly bats, in southern Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Pathogens tend to pass from animals to humans in these areas due to close interactions, especially in hunting and eating wild animal flesh.
“There are no known secondary cases… Contacts have been traced, and 155 people are under surveillance for three weeks,” Ki-Zerbo said in an interview, quoted by Reuters on Wednesday (11/8/2021).
“This is active surveillance. Contacts are kept at home, isolated from other family members. They are visited daily to check for potential symptoms.”
Marburg’s case was confirmed in Gueckedou, southeast Guinea. This region was the origin of the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak. Marburg and Ebola itself are closely related because the system of transmission between humans through contact with blood or body fluids.
Marburg’s mortality rate in past outbreaks has varied, from 24% to 88% for those infected.
But Ki-Zerbo said Guinea was better equipped to deal with the outbreak than it was when Ebola struck in 2014. The discovery of the Marburg case also shows an increased ability to detect the infection.
“Guinea has built a strong health security system since the last Ebola outbreak in 2014 to 2016,” he said, pointing to the use of rapid response teams, disease detectives, epidemiologists and social anthropologists, and better coordination with neighboring countries.
“Globally, the approach to fighting Marburg will be no different from Ebola,” he said. “The only difference is that there is no vaccine or drug specifically aimed at this virus. Only supportive care is available.”
Guinea’s new case was first identified last Sunday, two months after the country was declared free of Ebola. It also marks the first time the deadly disease has been identified in West Africa. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
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