Eight new cases of Marburg disease

DAKAR: Eight new confirmed cases of Marburg disease have been reported in Equatorial Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.

This brings the total of confirmed cases to nine and probable cases to 20 since the outbreak of the deadly disease similar to Ebola was declared in February. Twenty deaths have been reported. The areas reporting cases were about 150km apart, suggesting a wider transmission of the virus, the WHO said.

Marburg disease is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can have a fatality rate of up to 88%.