Uganda declared Marburg-free

HEALTH officials on Tuesday declared Uganda free of the Ebola-like Marburg virus after completing a 42-day surveillance period under World Health Organization (WHO) rules.

"The country is officially declared free of the Marburg virus epidemic," State Minister of Health, Sarah Achieng Opendi said in a statement.

A 30-year-old medical technician died from Marburg on September 28, 11 days after falling ill in a Kampala hospital where he worked, sparking alarm.

A total of 197 people were monitored, including eight who had symptoms, but none had the virus.

"Since then, there have been no Marburg cases reported in the country, this implies that the Marburg outbreak in the country has completely been controlled," Opendi added.

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.

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus is also transmitted via contact with bodily fluids and fatality rates range from 25 to 80 percent.

The Ebola outbreak has claimed almost 5,000 lives in west Africa since the beginning of the year.

A Marburg outbreak in Uganda in October 2012 killed 10 people.