Two people died of the disease since the beginning of the outbreak on July 17, 2022
Ghana has declared the end of the marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced September 16, 2022.
Ghana confirmed its first outbreak of the disease July 17, 2022. Three cases were confirmed from Ashanti, Savannah and western regions in Ghana. Two fatalities were reported in Ashanti. The third was asymptomatic and had recovered.
The declaration by the Health Ministry of Ghana came in after no new cases were reported over the past 42 days.
Ghana’s Marburg outbreak was the second in West Africa. Last year, one case — the region’s first — was recorded in Guinea.
The virus causes severe haemorrhagic fever is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spread in humans through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected persons or surfaces and materials.
The disease is highly infectious like Ebola and has a high fatality rate of 24-88 per cent.
"There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for the disease. So, any outbreak of Marburg is a major concern," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa in her statement.
It is likely that the Ebola vaccine may protect against a Marburg virus infection, but clinical studies are yet to confirm this.
An effective disease detection system helped Ghana quickly identify the virus and enabled prompt response to curb the spread of the infection, WHO noted.
The health authorities, with support from WHO and other health partners, swiftly rolled out outbreak control measures, stepped up disease surveillance, testing, contact-tracing and clinical care.
They also raised public awareness and worked with communities to support disease prevention efforts.
Link with outbreak in Guinea
The outbreak of Marburg virus disease or the MVD in Ghana has been linked to the case reported in Guinea in 2021, stated WHO. The United Nations health agency was referring to research by Senegal’s Institut Pasteur and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana.
However, further investigation is needed to fully understand the origin of the outbreak, which may be due to a shared animal reservoir or to population movements between the two countries
WHO is supporting the health authorities to carry out ecological studies to increase understanding of the disease and help anticipate and prevent future outbreaks. This is important since after the virus was identified in 1967, over 660 cases of MVD have been recorded and all of them were in African countries, according to a new study published in the journal Annals of Medicine and Surgery September 2022
The continent needs to be ready to deal with zoonotic diseases in anticipation of threats posed by them, as such outbreaks have increased by 63 per cent in the last decade.
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