The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday declared an end to a Marburg virus epidemic in Equatorial Guinea, reported France 24.
The Central African nation of 1.6 million inhabitants reported 35 confirmed or suspected deaths due to the Marburg virus since the outbreak was declared on February 13.
In a statement, the WHO said that the Marburg Virus Disease outbreak in Equatorial Guinea was declared ended on Thursday after no new cases were reported in the last 42 days after the last patient was discharged from treatment.
As per the statement, a total of 17 laboratory-confirmed cases and 12 deaths were recorded during the outbreak, while all the 23 probable cases reported died in five districts of the country’s eight provinces.
The statement lauded local health workers and partner organizations for their hard work in controlling the outbreak.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, said the UN health agency will continue to work with countries to improve measures to detect any disease outbreak and respond effectively to control it in the future.
There are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments for the Marburg virus. But the UN health body claims that supportive care including rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids and treatment of specific symptoms improves the chances of survival.
Although the outbreak has been declared over, the WHO assures that it will continue working with Equatorial Guinea’s health authorities to maintain surveillance measures and testing for prompt action in case flare-ups of the virus occur.
This comes days after the WHO also declared the end of the Ebola-like virus in Tanzania. On June 2, Tanzania declared an end to the virus after recording nine cases including eight confirmed and one probable cases and six deaths in two months after it was declared in the north-western Kagera region.
