After Equatorial Guinea: Cameroon at risk of deadly virus!.

If the outbreak is not contained, many fear Cameroon may be pushed into a situation similar to when COVID-19 hit the shores of the country in March 2020.

In a statement confirming the outbreak of the Marburg, the WHO said, the infection has been the cause of at least nine deaths and 16 suspected cases in Equatorial Guinea in the last few days.

The WHO said, it confirmed the outbreak after testing nine samples which came out positive. The samples, it said, were sent to the Institut Pasteur lab in Senegal.

Reports first emerged on February 8 of what was said to be a strange disease in the Kie Ntem Province of Equatorial Guinea. This was after at least 20 persons across villages in the province died from similar infections.

With the Kie Ntem Province bordering Cameroon’s South Region, the fear of many is that the virus could easily spread to Cameroon. Travels between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea has always been intense with business people from both countries crossing the border daily.

In the meantime, the health districts of Kye-Ossi, Ambam and Olamze in the South Region, the Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie had said in a note on February 10, have been put under surveillance.

WHO Africa boss on deadly virus

According to the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, “Marburg is highly infectious”.

“Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible,” Dr Matshidiso said.

Health teams, the WHO official said, have been deployed in the affected districts to trace, isolate and provide medical care to people showing symptoms of the disease.

Officials have also talked of efforts to track such as; case management, infection prevention, laboratory and risk communication to support the national response efforts and secure community collaboration in the face of the Marburg outbreak.

There is also the control as well as facilitation of the shipment of laboratory glove tents for sample testing as well as one viral hemorrhagic fever kit.

The kit, health officials said, includes personal protective equipment that can be used by 500 health workers.

About the Marburg virus

The Marburg virus disease, it should be noted, is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever. The WHO says it has a fatality ratio of up to 88%. It is said to be in the same family with the Ebola virus disease.

The Marburg virus according to health experts begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. Most of those infected, they say, often develop severe hemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.

The virus, health officials say, is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids.

Symptoms

According to the WHO, the disease presents symptoms from the second day of infection. This, the global health body said, often begins abruptly with an intense fever and headache.

It further details that, this is followed few days after by vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. 

In severe cases, the organisation maintains that the pains are accompanied by bleeding as some patients vomit blood or pass it in their stool.

Other patients, the UN agency disclosed, bleed from their gums, nose, and genitalia. The disease, health experts also say, can spread to the nervous system, causing patients to become confused, irritable and aggressive. Most fatal cases, the WHO maintains, last just over a week and deaths are typically accompanied by severe blood loss and shock.

No cure

Worthy to be said is that there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus. Nonetheless, supportive care rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids and treatment of specific symptoms are said to be available to contain fatality rates.

Health Minister calls for calm

As we went to press yesterday, the Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie, issued a statement calling for calm.

His release of yesterday which comes after that of February 10 also indicated that authorities in neigbouring Equatorial Guinea had confirmed the outbreak of the virus.

He said work with technical and financial partners to handle the situation which were instituted days ago have been intensified.

The situation, the Minister said, “is under control and currently, no case has been notified in the country”.

The public health boss said he is counting on the “discipline and civility” of the population to avoid the importation and spread of the disease to Cameroon.