Death toll from rare virus in Angola climbs to 150
GENEVA: A deadly virus that causes massive internal bleeding has killed 150 people in northern Angola, the United Nations health agency said Tuesday.
The World Health Organization said it has sent five mobile surveillance teams to Uige, in northern Angola, where the outbreak of the rare Marburg hemorrhagic fever is thought to have originated. The teams are investigating the cause of the outbreak and searching for additional cases.
More than 100 contacts -- or people who were in contact with deceased victims of the virus -- are being followed up, WHO said. Angola's Health Ministry has reported a total of 163 Marburg cases.
In addition to Uige, cases have been identified in Angola's northern provinces of Luanda, Cabinda, Malange and Kuanza Norte. As well as WHO, Angolan health authorities, foreign governments and aid groups have rushed medical teams to the region.
WHO said it was working with the Ministry of Health to finalize a national plan of action to control the outbreak. WHO said the plan will require financial assistance from the international community, but didn't specify how much money was needed.
Marburg, like the better known Ebola virus, is a hemorrhagic fever. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids and can kill rapidly. There is no vaccine.
The incurable disease in theory can be more easily controlled than Ebola because someone suffering from Marburg infects only about four other people. Ebola victims, in contrast, routinely infect about a dozen other people.
The worst previously recorded outbreak of the virus killed 123 people in neighboring Congo between 1998 and 2000. That was also the last known outbreak.--AP
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