The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared an end to the outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease in Equatorial Guinea.

Development Diaries reports that the WHO said no new cases have been reported over the past 42 days after the last patient was discharged.

According to the global health body, the outbreak, which was declared on 13 February 2023, was the first of its kind in Equatorial Guinea.

It noted that 17 laboratory-confirmed cases and 12 deaths were recorded, and all the 23 probable cases reported died.

It is understood that four patients who recovered from the virus have been enrolled in a survivors programme to receive psychosocial and other post-recovery support.

Bata District in the western Litoral Province was worst-hit, with 11 laboratory-confirmed cases reported. Among the reported cases, many were closely linked either through social gatherings and networks, or geographically.

‘While outbreak-prone diseases continue to pose a major health threat in Africa, we can bank on the region’s growing expertise in health emergency response to act quickly and decisively to safeguard health and avert widespread loss of life’, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said.

‘The hard work of Equatorial Guinea’s health workers and support by partner organisations has been crucial in ending this outbreak’.

Marburg, in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola, is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.

The first outbreak of Marburg in Africa was recorded in South Africa in 1975, followed by two others in Kenya in the 1980s.

Since then, outbreaks have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea and Uganda, and most recently Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.

Photo source: WHO