Marburg toll up to 235
2005-04-17 21:13
Luanda - The death toll from the Marburg virus epidemic in Angola rose to 235 on Sunday with about 500 people under surveillance after coming in contact with the Ebola-like virus, the health ministry and the World Health Organisation said.
Health officials are treating a total of 257 cases of the killer Ebola-like bug that has claimed 219 lives in the northern province of Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak that was first detected in October, according to a statement from the ministry and the WHO.
An additional 513 people are under surveillance, it added.
WHO experts said last week that there was no end in sight for the epidemic, the worst outbreak of the virus first detected in 1967 when German laboratory workers in Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.
The Marburg virus 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.
Of the same family as the deadly Ebola, 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.
Until now the most serious outbreak of the disease was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.