Ghana, Declares The Marburg Virus Outbreak Over

42 days without anybody testing positive. Ghana has declared that the recent outbreak of the Marburg virus is now over.

Marburg is a highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola.

The virus is initially transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, according to the WHO.

Ghana confirmed the country’s first outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus and alerted the public of the outbreak of the highly infectious disease in July 2022.

The country recorded two fatalities after three people contracted the virus, a father and his 14-month-old child died as a result of the marburg virus. The third person - the mother - recovered and last tested positive in August.

The three infected persons had come in contact with almost 200 people but none of them had developed any symptoms.

"Ghana is safe," Ghana Health Service Director General Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye told journalists in Accra on Friday.

He went on to thank the World Health Organization and other partners who helped the country deal with the outbreak.

According to a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ghana’s ministry of health declared the outbreak’s end on Friday after no new cases were reported over the past 42 days, or two incubation periods — the time between infection and the onset of symptoms.

Commenting on the development, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said Ghana’s response was rapid and robust despite having no previous experience with the disease.

“Lives have been saved and people’s health protected thanks to an effective disease detection system that helped to quickly identify the virus and enabled prompt response to curb the spread of infection,” she added

"Despite having no previous experience with the disease, Ghana's response has been rapid and robust," the AFP news agency quotes WHO Africa head Dr Matshidiso Moeti as saying.

This was the second time that Marburg virus has been identified in West Africa, the first being in Guinea.

Guinea experienced a single case of the virus infection, the country declared an end to the outbreak in September, five weeks after the virus was dictated.

Comments

Philip Shaibu Pleads For Forgiveness - Forgive, Says The Deputy Governor of Edo State, To His Governor

Thursday in Benin City, Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu appealed to Governor Obaseki to forgive and forget their differences. Governor Godwin Obaseki and His Deputy Philip Shaibu An embattled Shaibu, begged his principal, Governor Godwin Obakeki, for forgiveness over their political differences. While addressing journalists he said: "I use this medium to appeal to Mr Governor, if there is anything that I don’t know that I have done, please forgive me so that we can develop our state together,” he said. "We have just one year to go. We have been the envy of the entire country. So Mr Governor, if there is anything you feel that I have done, please I am sorry. I need us to work together to finish well and strong.” On whether he had resumed at his new office, the Deputy Governor replied; “We have resumed but there is still a lot of work to be done there. “There is no problem about it. The governor has asked us to go there. Like I have alway...

In The Spotlight-N250m donation: Davido releases list of 292 beneficiaries

The list of 292 orphanages that benefited from his donation of N250 million, has been released by Nigerian singer, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido. Davido had sent out a video message to his friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry to send money to him as part of his birthday celebration in November 2021. After the shout out to his friends, the DMW label boss was able to amass over N100 million, in a few hours. This amount later grew to N200million in a few days. Davido then added a personal donation of N50 million to make it N250 million. Davido declared that he was giving the money to charity. He said that he would set up a committee to ensure the disbursement of the money to orphanages across the country. Guess what, Davido has now revealed that the money had been disbursed to 292 homes selected from all the states of the federation. This information was contained in a statement signed by the multi-award winning singer on Tuesday. The statement reads, “As p...

In A Flash- Nigerian News Dailies

ThisDay Senate Presidency: News of Yari’s Imminent Arrest Excites Akpabio’s Supporters. Abdulaziz Yari Barely 24 hours to the election of the presiding officers of the National Assembly, supporters of former Akwa-Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, have started celebrating over a fast-circulating rumour that an aspirant for the position of Senate President, Abdulaziz Yari, would soon be arrested by security agents and whisked away from Abuja before Tuesday morning. The Guardian Nigeria • 52 per cent of Nigerian professionals considering migration, survey uncovers As the brain drain syndrome in the health and information technology (IT) sectors persists, Phillips Consulting (PCL) has revealed in its recent survey that about 52 per cent of Nigerian professionals are considering quitting their jobs and relocating abroad within a year. • Lawmakers edgy in last minute battle for Senate leadership. The die is cast, as members-elect of the 10th National Assembly vote for aspiran...

Welcome To Echo Blog

Search This Blog