ANGOLA: Cultural practices raise risk of Marburg spreading

IRIN news org ^ | April 18, 2005 | IRIN staff

[EBH]

Marburg outbreak contained
From correspondents in Luanda

April 22, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse

THE outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus that has claimed 244 lives in Angola has been confined to the province of Uige, as no new cases had been detected outside the northern region, the country's health ministry says.

"We have circumscribed the epidemic to the province of Uige," Deputy Health Minister Jose Van Dunem said today, adding that four provinces and the capital Luanda had not recently reported any new cases.
"Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Zaire, Cabinda and Luanda have not reported any new cases of Marburg."


Of 266 cases of the virus, 244 people have died - with the vast bulk of those from the northern province of Uige, where 228 patients have succumbed to the virus in the worst outbreak ever of the disease.

Marburg virus can kill a healthy person in a week, causing diarrhoea and vomiting followed by severe internal bleeding.

The virus was discovered in 1967 when German laboratory workers in Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.

Previously, the most serious outbreak of the disease occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.

"The good news is that in the province of Uige, samples from 16 cases were sent to the laboratory for analysis and 14 came back as negative," Mr Van Dunem said.

A total of 518 people are under medical observation nationwide after having been in contact with an infected person out of whom 406 are in Uige, a dirt-poor city of shacks 300km north of Luanda.

"The epidemic is under control because the majority of cases continue to be recorded in the province of Uige, and in the municipality of Uige," Mr Van Dunem said.

"The disease is on a decline.

"The epidemic is under control because we know how it is transmitted, how to break the chain of transmission."

Mr Van Dunem admitted cultural factors" such as the fact Angolans themselves prepare the body of a loved one for burial were complicating the campaign to stamp out the virus.

The virus, the exact origin of which is unknown, and for which there is no cure, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement, vomit, saliva, sweat and tears, but it can be contained with relatively simple hygiene precautions, experts say.

A team of 24 Angolan and foreign health experts travelled to Uige today to reinforce a team reaching out to residents to explain the threat posed by the bug.

[Dog Gone]

It's contained only in the sense that it's being reported in only one province. As long as there is even one person being treated by family members instead of in an isolation ward, it's not contained.

[dc-zoo]

I would say that their reporting is contained and their test results may have many false negatives. This may be giving some wishful thinkers a false sense of security.

[little jeremiah]

Can someone have malaria AND Marburg?

Wouldn't it be comforting to be assured that all the test results we see here are all highly accurate, with no false negatives.

[Judith Anne]

As long as there is even one person being treated by family members instead of in an isolation ward, it's not contained.

That's what I think, too.

[tdewey10]

I have this same concern re mosquitos with the current outbreak in Angola. See the related thread.

[Ditter]

My sister in law just informed me she and her boyfriend are taking a vacation to Africa next Oct. I think they are crazy.

[SauronOfMordor]

This thing, and Ebola too, seem to follow the wet season. Has anybody been checking mosquitos?

If this can be insect-spread, Africa (and most likely the world) is in deep doo-doo