Child infected with Marburg virus dies in Ghana

• The death on Tuesday brings the total number of fatalities in Ghana to three.
• Ghana registered its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus last month.
• Outbreak is only the second in West Africa, after first detected in Guinea.

A boy from Ghana who had the highly contagious Marburg virus—which is similar to Ebola—died; according to a representative of WHO.

Since Ghana reported its first-ever outbreak of the disease last month; there have been three fatalities in the nation as of Tuesday. Only two outbreaks have been reported in West Africa; the first was found in Guinea last year.

The WHO announced two additional cases last week; one of which was the dead infant; whose gender and age were not given.

“I discussed the two new situations last week. The child of the index case regrettably passed away; but the wife is still alive and making progress; according to WHO doctor Ibrahima Soce Fall. The first is the wife of the index case.

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Only three verified cases have been reported by the Ghanaian health ministry thus far; and additional testing needs to be done on a fourth suspected case; according to Fall.

The WHO previously reported that the first two patients; in southern Ghana’s Ashanti area, both showed symptoms like diarrhoea, fever, nausea, and vomiting; before passing away in hospitals.

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