Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health says it has not reported any active Marburg cases since last Friday in Jinka town of southern Ethiopia, after six individuals were confirmed dead from the deadly disease.
Ethiopian Health Minister Mekdes Daba told journalists that coordinated efforts are underway to identify and isolate those who might have been exposed to the virus.
The Ethiopian government confirmed on 14 November that there had been a Marburg virus disease outbreak in Jinka town in 0southern Ethiopia. This followed laboratory testing of samples from a cluster of suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever.
The outbreak is the first of its kind in the country.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) acknowledged the outbreak of the deadly diseases in the town.
Further epidemiological investigations and laboratory analysis are underway, and the virus strain detected shows similarities to those previously identified in East Africa, the Africa CDC said in a statement over the weekend.
The Marburg virus, a highly infectious pathogen with a high fatality rate, causes haemorrhagic fever. Symptoms, including high fever and severe headache, typically appear within a week of exposure.
It belongs to the same virus family as Ebola, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
On 13 November, WHO said that it had deployed an emergency team and medical supplies to support Ethiopian health authorities investigating suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever in the Southern Ethiopia Region.
Eight suspected cases have so far been reported, with laboratory tests ongoing at EPHI to confirm the cause.
Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been reported in Rwanda, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
APA/Oyenike Oyeniyi