The World Health Organization announced, on Sunday, the outbreak of the “Marburg virus” in Ghana, and the Ghana Health Authority had officially confirmed, on Sunday, the discovery of two cases of Marburg virus, a highly contagious disease similar to Ebola, after two people tested positive for the virus and died this month.
The result of the tests conducted in Ghana came back positive on the tenth of this July, but the results were verified by a laboratory in Senegal so that the cases could be considered confirmed, according to the World Health Organization.
“Further tests at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, confirmed the results,” Ghana’s health authority said in a statement. The authority added that it is working to reduce any risk of spreading the virus by taking measures, including isolating all contacts who have been identified, noting that none of them have shown any symptoms so far. This is the second outbreak of Marburg in West Africa.
The first infection with the virus was discovered last year in Guinea, and no further cases have since been discovered.