Death toll from Marburg outbreak rises to 174 in Angola

A total of 174 people have died of Marburg virus until Thursday since the outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like disease last October in the northern Angolan province of Uige, the Health Ministry has disclosed.

The ministry said on Thursday that the number of people infected with the virus has gone up to 200 so far.

The ministry said they have controlled 230 people who had contacted infected people. Among them, Luanda province registered eight cases, including six deaths. Twenty people are also being monitored after having contacted the infected people.

According to the ministry, Uige province received 11 alerts from different municipalities and two deaths and 200 contacts being monitored. Kwanza-sul province is investigating six deaths that occurred from March 20 to April 2.

Zaire province registered six deaths including one who died on Thursday.

Like Ebola, which also has hit Africa, Marburg is a hemorrhagic fever. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids and can kill rapidly. There is no vaccine.

The World Health Organization, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Doctors Without Borders have deployed teams in Uige to combat the virus.

The worst previously recorded outbreak of the virus killed 123 people in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1998 and 2000, the last known outbreak of Marburg.

Source: Xinhua