Ashanti Region: Ghana Health Service Confirms 2 Cases Of Marburg Virus Disease

Marburg Virus Disease is a rare but severe haemorrhagic fever that affects both humans and non-human primates.

It is caused by the Marburg virus. It is transmitted by infected persons or animals from direct contact with body fluids, blood, and other discharges from the affected person/animal. The incubation period for the disease is two (2) to twenty-one (21) days. Treatment is symptomatic. There is currently no vaccine available.

Prospective cases may present with fever, bloody diarrhoea, bleeding from gums, bleeding into the skin, bleeding into eyes, and, bloody urine.

In 2021, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) directed all its regional offices to be on high alert for the Marburg virus after an outbreak of the disease was recorded in neighboring West African country, Guinea.