Marburg toll keeps on rising
2005-04-12 21:59
Luanda - A total of 210 people have died in Angola from the Marburg virus, the worst outbreak ever recorded of the Ebola-like bug, the Angolan health ministry and the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
They said 361 people across the country were under observation for the virus, which can kill a healthy person in a week by diarrhoea and vomiting followed by severe internal bleeding, and is not treatable with any known drugs.
The Marburg virus, whose exact origin is unknown, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement, vomit, saliva, sweat and tears, but can be contained with relatively simple health precautions, according to experts.
The health ministry and WHO said in a statement that the greatest number of deaths - 190 - was recorded in the northern Uige province, the epicentre of the epidemic that was first detected in October.
Meanwhile, health ministry spokesperson Alberto Carlos told reporters that six other bodies had been found in a hospital morgue in Uige and that laboratory tests proved that they had succumbed to the virus.
He underlined that these deaths did not figure in the toll released on Tuesday, without giving a reason.
Health authorities say the majority of the victims of the virus are children under five.
Until now the most serious outbreak of the disease was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.