Kenya issues Marburg alert

2005-03-30 10:03

Nairobi - The Kenyan government announced on Wednesday it had taken steps to prevent a possible outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus that has ravaged Angola, killing more than 120 people.

The health ministry said it had set up a system at Kenya's two main airports - Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa - to screen passengers arriving from Angola.

And it said it had alerted all hospitals and clinics to the potential for the virus to appear in Kenya, which recorded three cases of the disease in the 1980s, two involving travellers in the west of the country and the Nairobi physician of the first patient.

"The ministry has issued an alert to all health facilities about the Marburg outbreak and directed that all health workers strictly adhere to the standard guidelines for infection prevention and control for all infectious condition including virus haemorrhagic fevers in health care settings," it said.

Kenya's top physician, James Nyikal, the director of medical services at the ministry, said his staff were also boosting co-operation with the World Health Organization (WHO) and neighbouring states to enhance surveillance.

He urged health workers to be vigilant for the virus in any patient presenting Marburg symptoms which are akin to those of malaria, typhoid and meningitis, especially those who may have recently been in Angola.

"This is particularly important because many of the signs and symptoms of Marburg virus disease are similar to those of other infectious diseases," Nyikal said.

A severe form of haemorrhagic fever akin to Ebola, the Marburg virus was first identified in 1967. It spreads on contact with the fluids the body produces in reaction to it, such as blood, urine, excrement, vomit and saliva.

Three-quarters of the 126 reported deaths in Angola have been children under the age of five, according to the WHO, but the virus has also started to claim adult victims since it erupted there in October.

Nyikal said Kenyan health authorities were working diligently to prevent an outbreak in the East African nation and sought to reassure the public that its spread was unlikely given the steps taken.

"All necessary measures have been taken to ensure that the Marburg disease does not spread to Kenya," he said. - AFP

- SAPA