WHO confirms Uganda is Marburg-free

THE World Health Organization confirmed on Thursday that Uganda was free of the Ebola-like Marburg virus after completing a 42-day surveillance period with no new cases.

The Marburg virus is one of the most deadly known pathogens. Like Ebola, it causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and has a 21-day incubation period.

It is also transmitted via contact with bodily fluids and fatality rates range from 25 to 80 percent.

A hospital worker in the Kampala died on September 28 after contracting Marburg. Following that, 197 people were placed under isolation and monitored but no one tested positive.

"Since there have been no active cases of Marburg for 42 days, the outbreak is considered to be contained," the WHO said in a statement.

Heightened surveillance and public awareness campaigns would continue, it added, in view of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

AFP