Angola sets up emergency alarm system for Marburg virus

Facing huge pressure from the rapidly-spreading fatal Marburg virus, Angola's Luanda province on Tuesday established an emergency alarm system while the northern Uige province, where the virus was first found, is calling for emergency help.

Luanda Provincial Health Bureau Chief Vita Vemba has posted six emergency telephone numbers through media, asking citizens to report suspected Marburg virus cases to relevant health institutions as soon as possible.

In an emergency call for help from the Uige province, the provincial government said the epidemic is spreading despite great local efforts. The government is calling for more help from international organizations, national hospitals and other provinces.

The Uige provincial government also announced two emergency telephone numbers and will open two bank accounts for donations. It also called for emergency assistance to the more than 1,000 families in the province who had recently lost their homes in flooding.

A severe form of hemorrhagic fever akin to Ebola, the Marburg virus was first identified in 1967 in Germany. It spreads on contact with body fluids such as blood, urine, excrement, vomit and saliva.

There is no vaccine or cure for the fatal disease, according to the WHO. Hospital therapy includes maintaining patients' oxygen level and blood pressure and replacing lost blood.

Marburg began to emerge in the south-western African country in October and started to spread northward. Up to now, doctors put the death figure at 126, while the government insisted on 117 dead, most of them children under five years of age.

"Between October 2004 and 28 March 2005, a total of 124 cases were recorded of whom 117 died," the World Health Organization said in a statement, citing the government.

In the latest report, three more people died of the fatal epidemic in the capital and the coastal enclave of Cabinda, all of whom had traveled to Uige recently.

While stating the Marburg virus is a deadly disease without much hope for cure, Angolan health officials are calling for international help and aid as the country, after 27 years of brutal civil war, does not have medical workers nor equipment to contain the epidemic.

Marburg has caused panic in the Uige region, prompting local citizens to flee. It has also made Angola's neighboring countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo vigilant. They are now monitoring the borders closely and busily training medical staff against the disease.

Source: Xinhua