Marburg kills more than Ebola
04/04/2005 21:30  - (SA)  

Marburg virus toll hits 150 Fear stalks Angolan capital Marburg fears in Italy Disease fears spread in Africa Kenya issues Marburg alert Angola battling Marburg fever

Luanda - The deadly Marburg virus in Angola has overtaken its more famous cousin Ebola with a higher case-to-death ratio, the country's health minister said late on Monday, as the death toll climbed to 155 out of a 175 cases, up five from earlier in the day.

"It's a very grave epidemic because its mortality-to-case proportion is very high. Scientific studies about Marburg shows a 32% case-to-death ratio and here we have more than 90%. It is higher than Ebola," Sebastioa Veloso told AFP.

Veloso said late on Monday that the toll climbed to "175 cases, among them 155 dead, all from the province of Uige", the epicentre of the outbreak in the country's north on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The southern DRC experienced in previous years a large outbreak of Ebola and also the worst known epidemic of Marburg until now, which killed 123 people among 149 cases from the end of 1998 to the end of 2000.

All the victims of Marburg in Angola have died since October last year, with a dramatic rise in the last four days, claiming 29 new victims since Thursday.

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