A preliminary analysis of samples taken from two patients by the country's Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research found the cases were positive for Marburg. However, according to the standard procedure, the samples were sent to the Institut Pasteur in Senegal, a collaborating center of the World Health Organization, for confirmation.
The WHO said the two patients from the southern Ashanti region - both deceased and unrelated - presented with symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting and were taken to a district hospital in the Ashanti region.
Marburg is transmitted from fruit bats to humans and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, surfaces, and materials. The disease begins abruptly with a high fever, severe headache and malaise. Many patients develop severe hemorrhagic signs within seven days. Case fatality rates have varied from 24 percent to 88 percent in previous outbreaks, depending on the virus strain and case management.
Although there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus, supportive care — rehydration with oral or IV fluids — and treating specific symptoms improves survival. A range of possible treatments including blood products, immunotherapies and drug therapies.
The United Nations panel said preparations for a possible response to the outbreak are being swiftly launched as further investigations are ongoing.
“The health authorities are studying the situation on the ground and preparing for a possible response to the outbreak. We are working closely with the country to speed up detection, trace contacts and be ready to control the spread of the virus," said Dr. Francis Kasolo, representative of the World Health Organization in Ghana.
WHO is sending experts to support Ghana's health authorities by strengthening disease surveillance, testing, tracing contacts, preparing treatment for patients and working with communities to warn and educate them about the risks and dangers of the disease and with to work together with the emergency teams.
“If the cases are confirmed, the Ghana cases would be the second time Marburg has been discovered in West Africa. Guinea confirmed a single case in an outbreak that was declared over on September 16, 2021, five weeks after the first case was discovered.
"Previous outbreaks and sporadic cases of Marburg in Africa have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda," the WHO press statement said in part.
Oh my God help them lord
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