Marburg, which is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola, was detected less than two months after Guinea declared an end to an Ebola outbreak that erupted earlier this year. Samples taken from a now-deceased patient and tested by a field laboratory in Gueckedou as well as Guinea’s national haemorrhagic fever laboratory turned out positive for the Marburg virus. Further analysis by the Institut Pasteur in Senegal confirmed the result.
The patient had sought treatment at a local clinic in Koundou area of Gueckedou, where a medical investigation team had been dispatched to probe his worsening symptoms.
An initial team of 10 WHO experts, including epidemiologists and socio-anthropologists is on the ground helping to investigate the case and supporting the national health authorities to swiftly step up emergency response, including risk assessment, disease surveillance, community mobilization, testing, clinical care, infection prevention as well as logistical support.
Cross-border surveillance is also being enhanced to quickly detect any cases, with neighbouring countries on alert. The Ebola control systems in place in Guinea and in neighboring countries are proving crucial to the emergency response to the Marburg virus.
Marburg is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.
Illness begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and
malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic signs within seven
days. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks
depending on virus strain and case management.
Although there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to
treat the virus, supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous
fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival. A range
of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and
drug therapies, are being evaluated." WHO
II: Political Chaos
"Guinea’s first elected president came to power more than a decade ago promising to stand up to global mining giants and improve the
Their charge: Guinea had become a mining powerhouse on his watch but their lives had barely changed. To cap it all, he had tried to extend his rule for a third term. “I didn’t know him very well, but I knew [him as a] political leader who seemed like a man who in his heart wanted to turn Guinea into a real democracy,” said Cellou Dalein Diallo, the opposition leader who lost to Condé in three elections, which were rife with irregularities. “So I was very disappointed when I saw how he acted because it was the
The push by Condé, 83, to cling to power prompted widespread protests. International powers, including the African Union and the UN, condemned the coup. But the strongest reaction came from the commodities market, where the price of aluminium rose to its highest level in a decade out of fear supply would be disrupted. Condé in 2010 inherited a dysfunctional state, ruled for decades by Lansana Conté, its mineral wealth exploited in a haphazard fashion and the source of political and legal strife." FinancialTimes
