Marburg toll tops 300
2005-05-18 21:37
Luanda - The world's worst outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus has claimed 311 lives in Angola, said a joint statement by Angola's health ministry and the World Health Organisation on Wednesday.
It said 300 deaths were recorded in the northern province of Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak, adding that 337 cases had been detected since October last year.
A week ago, Angolan health minister Sebastiao Veloso said the southern African nation was gaining the upper hand in its battle against the deadly virus.
He said: "Everything indicates we are on the road towards controlling the epidemic. We are no longer in the same situation in which we were just three weeks ago."
There is no cure for the virus, which was first detected in 1967 when monkeys from Uganda infected West German laboratory workers in the town of Marburg.
The most-serious outbreak of Marburg until now had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.
- SAPA