UGANDA/ANGOLA/FILE: The highly contagious Marburg virus kills one person in western Ugandan

Reports about an outbreak of the Marburg Virus in Uganda have been confirmed by the country's ministry of health. The last Marburg outbreak was reported in Angola in 2005 when over 300 people died within eight months. The Ugandan Ministry of Health has confirmed that one person has died from the Marburg virus in Kamwenge district, 250 kilometres west of Kampala. The victim, a gold miner, died on July 14. The disease affects both primates and humans causing high fever, bleeding and vomiting. It is spread through contact with bodily fluids like blood, saliva, sweat and tears. Although there is no cure, the spread of the fever can be contained by observing proper sanitation and hygiene. "Because Marburg disease is a rare disease the occurrence of the confirmed case constitutes an epidemic according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines," said Richard Nduhura, the country's State Minister for Health. The mine is in a forest reserve and was sealed off after the outbreak. The other mine workers have been quarantined. "We have established a national competent multi-disciplinary task force made of national and international experts similar to the one that contained Ebola in 2000, rapid response teams have been sent to the affected area to contain the situation, the proprietor of the gold mine has been identified and the mine has been closed with immediate effect," added Nduhura. The last Marburg outbreak in Uganda was in 1977 when 19 people died. More recently, the Marburg virus broke out in Uige province, northern Angola in October 2005. A total of 311 of the 337-recorded Marburg cases died from the disease. Marburg fever was first discovered in the German town it was named after in 1967, when infected monkeys from Uganda caused an outbreak. Marburg fever comes from the same family as the deadly Ebola virus that was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.

ITN Source | August 4, 2007

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