The number of people killed by the rare Marburg virus in Angola has passed 300, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
By May 17, the total number of cases — mainly in the northern province of Uige — had climbed to 337, the United Nations health agency said on its website. Of these, 311 died.
No cases have been reported outside Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak, for the past five weeks, the WHO said.
”Support from religious and community leaders has also allowed the work of mobile surveillance teams to run more smoothly, increasing the efficiency of case finding and contact tracing,” the WHO said.
”However, some new cases continue to be linked to exposure in homes and at funerals, indicating that public understanding of the disease still needs to be improved.”
There is no vaccine for Marburg, a haemorrhagic fever that spreads through contact with bodily fluids and can kill rapidly.
The incubation period for the virus can be 21 days. The WHO does not consider outbreaks to be contained until there have been no new infections for a period lasting double the maximum incubation time.
Transmission of the virus requires close personal contact with an ill or recently deceased patient, so the WHO does not recommend any restrictions on international travel or trade to or from Angola. — Sapa-AP