Ethiopia confirms 3 deaths from Ebola-like Marburg virus in new outbreak

Ethiopia on Monday confirmed three deaths from the Marburg haemorrhagic virus that has been detected in an area neighbouring South Sudan.

Health Minister Mekdes Daba said Ethiopia's government, which declared a Marburg outbreak on Friday, had conducted tests in 17 suspected cases in the country's south. The outbreak was reported in the Omo region.

The minister said there were no active cases of the Ebola-like virus, but the government was taking preventive measures.

A team from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been dispatched to support testing and outbreak control.

South Sudan's health ministry on Sunday issued a public health advisory to residents of four counties to wash their hands frequently and avoid contact with bodily fluids to prevent the spread of the virus.

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya called the outbreak a concern last week because South Sudan has a “fragile health system”.

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people or with contaminated surfaces, such as soiled bedsheets.

Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88 per cent of people who fall ill.

Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death from severe blood loss. There is no authorised vaccine or treatment for Marburg.

Outbreaks of Marburg virus are relatively rare but serious

Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Rwanda, Tanzania,Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Ghana, according to the WHO.