Equatorial Guinea confirms eight more Marburg cases

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Health has confirmed eight more cases of Marburg, bringing the number of confirmed cases to nine since the outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic fever that was declared on 13 February.

According to WHO, the new cases were confirmed following laboratory analysis of additional samples. So far, there are 20 probable cases and 20 deaths. The new cases have been reported from Kie Ntem in the east, Litoral in the country’s west, and Centro Sur provinces, all with international borders with Cameroon and Gabon. The areas reporting cases are about 150 kilometres apart, suggesting wider transmission of the virus.

WHO is working with the national authorities to step up emergency response measures by enhancing disease surveillance, testing, clinical care, infection prevention and control, as well as carrying out further epidemiological investigations and bolstering public awareness to help curb infection spread.

Additional experts in epidemiology, logistics, health operations and infection prevention and control from WHO will be deployed in the coming days. The Organization is also supporting the health authorities in neighbouring Cameroon and Gabon to ramp up outbreak readiness and response.