World Health Organization declares Marburg outbreak in Ghana

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — The World Health Organization has declared Ghana’s first outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus disease after labs confirmed the infections in two cases announced earlier this month. WHO says the disease, a very infectious hemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola, is spread to people by fruit bats and transmitted among people through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people and surfaces. The Institute Pasteur corroborated preliminary results that were positive from two patients tested in Ghana who fell ill and went to a hospital in the nation’s Ashanti region. The two cases were unrelated. WHO says more than 90 contacts, including health workers and community members, have been identified and are being monitored.