Ghana Has No Active Cases Of Marburg Virus; See When Outbreak Will Be Declared Over

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Ghana has no active case of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), a month after recording its first case of the highly infectious zoonotic disease on July 4, 2022, this year.

In line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, the outbreak will be declared over 42 days after the last negative test if there are no new cases.

All of Ghana’s three cases of MVD were related; a father, mother and son.

The Ghana Health Service in a press release issued yesterday said the mother, a 24-year-old was the country’s sole survivor and has since been discharged and reunited with her family.

“Marburg Virus Disease was confirmed in Ghana on 4th July 2022. Three cases have since been reported with the last being on 21 July 2022. Two of the three cases unfortunately died,” the release said.

In all, 198 contacts were identified by the GHS in four districts (Adansi North and South, Prestea Huni Valley, and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba) of which 118 of them have completed the 21 days of mandatory follow-up and have since been discharged. The remaining contacts are still being followed up and none has any symptoms.

“The only survivor of the three (3) has since recovered from the disease following two negative tests carried out 48 hours apart on the 3rd and 6th of August 2022 respectively, by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR). The patient has since been discharged and reunited with her family. Ghana, therefore, has no case of MVD”.

“The public is encouraged to continue to observe the preventive measures and to report any illness to the nearest health facility for attention,” the GHS release said.

“Even though Ghana has no MVD case currently, the Ghana Health Service, together with our development partners and relevant state agencies will continue to maintain heightened surveillance for MVD and other viral haemorrhagic fevers. Ongoing public education and engagements on MVD will be maintained while we continuously review the situation. The Service with support from partners has initiated a process for socio-ecological mapping to assess the risk of viral haemorrhagic fevers for enhanced surveillance in Ghana.

“The Ghana Health Service, working with our partners remains committed to working toward protecting the health of the general population of Ghana”.

By: graphic.com.gh