Neighbouring Cameroon had restricted motion alongside the border to keep away from contagion following stories of an unknown, lethal hemorrhagic fever in Equatorial Guinea final week.
“On the thirteenth of February, we had two suspected instances. These are two 16-year-old youngsters, a boy and a woman, who haven’t any earlier journey historical past to the affected areas in Equatorial Guinea,” the general public well being delegate for the area, Robert Mathurin Bidjang, mentioned at a gathering in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.
He mentioned 42 individuals who got here into contact with the 2 youngsters have been recognized and get in touch with tracing was ongoing.
The small Central African nation has to this point reported 9 deaths in addition to 16 suspected instances of Marburg virus illness, with signs together with fever, fatigue, and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea, based on the WHO.
“Surveillance within the area has been intensified,” George Ameh, WHO’s nation consultant in Equatorial Guinea, mentioned.
“Contact tracing, as you already know, is a cornerstone of the response.
“We’ve … redeployed the COVID-19 groups that had been there for contact tracing and shortly retrofitted them to essentially assist us out.”
Equatorial Guinea quarantined greater than 200 folks and restricted motion final week in its Kie-Ntem province, the place the haemorrhagic fever was first detected.
Marburg virus is a extremely infectious illness transmitted to people by way of fruit bats that may have a fatality charge of as much as 88 per cent, based on the WHO.
There are not any vaccines or antiviral remedies accepted to deal with it.
“We’re engaged on a 30-day response plan the place we must always be capable of quantify what are the precise measures and quantify what are the precise wants,” Ameh mentioned.
He added that the nation’s authorities had not reported any new suspected instances within the final 48 hours.
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