Authorities on alert for Marburg

The Ministry of Public Health has raised its guard against the Marburg virus, which is now widely spreading in Central Africa and has already claimed six lives in that region.

The ministry has put in place screening measures for all travellers from Equatorial Guinea and its close neighbours to prevent any local transmissions.

Opas Karnkawinpong, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said the ministry had been closely monitoring the recent outbreak of the disease, which was detected for the first time in Equatorial Guinea.

At least nine people were reported to have died after becoming infected. There are now around 16 suspected other cases featuring similar symptoms.

The virus is from the same family as the Ebola virus, which can be transmitted through bodily fluids.

“The original virus was found in bats and could have been transmitted to humans,” Dr Opas…