At least nine people have died from Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Equatorial Guinea.

Nine people died from marburg virushemorrhagic fever, almost as deadly as Ebola, in eastern Equatorial Guinea, where the province has been placed on lockdown to contain an “epidemic”, the health minister has announced.

Last week, the government announced an investigation into possible cases of hemorrhagic fever.

Three people who had “mild symptoms” of the disease were isolated in a hospital in a sparsely populated and rural area bordering Gabon and Cameroon, Mitoha Ondoo Ayekaba told a press conference. He added that the three people are “developing favorably.”

Equatorial Guinea “declares from today, February 13, a health alert for Marburg hemorrhagic fever in the province of Ki-Ntem and the district of Mongomo,” the minister said. He also announced the “launch of a contingency plan to fight the epidemic” in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The area where the cases were reported, inhabited by the equatorial forest, is located in the eastern part of the mainland of the country, which also includes two main islands.

disease marburg virus According to the WHO, it is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with the body fluids of infected people or with surfaces and materials.

According to the health minister, “4,325 people are under quarantine in Nkie Ntem.”

According to the WHO, mortality from past epidemics has ranged from 24% to 88%, depending on the virus strain and treatment.

WHO said Monday evening in a statement that, in addition to the 9 deaths, there were “16 suspected cases in people with symptoms such as fever, fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting of blood” in the province.

According to the organization, this is the first such epidemic in the small Central African country. Waves of sporadic cases have been reported in the past in West and South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the WHO.

He also explained that he had deployed “forward medical teams” in the east of the country, with one of the most closed and one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world, led by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for 43 years. AFP

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