CNN
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Cameroonian authorities detected two suspected instances of Marburg illness on Monday in Olamze, a commune on the border with Equatorial Guinea, the general public well being delegate for the area, Robert Mathurin Bidjang, stated on Tuesday.
Equatorial Guinea formally declared its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, an sickness much like Ebola, on Monday.
Neighboring Cameroon had restricted motion alongside the border to keep away from contagion following stories of an unknown, lethal hemorrhagic fever in Equatorial Guinea final week.
“On the thirteenth of February, we had two suspected instances. These are two 16-year-old kids, a boy and a woman, who haven’t any earlier journey historical past to the affected areas in Equatorial Guinea,” Bidjang stated at a gathering in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.
Forty-two individuals who got here into contact with the 2 kids have been recognized and phone tracing was ongoing, he added.
The World Well being Group (WHO) stated earlier on Tuesday that it was rising its epidemiological surveillance in Equatorial Guinea.
The small Central African nation has up to now reported 9 deaths in addition to 16 suspected instances of Marburg virus illness, with signs together with fever, fatigue, and blood-stained vomit and diarrhea, in accordance with the WHO.
“Surveillance within the area has been intensified,” stated George Ameh, WHO’s nation consultant in Equatorial Guinea.
“Contact tracing, as you realize, is a cornerstone of the response. We have now…redeployed the COVID-19 groups that have been there for contact tracing and rapidly retrofitted them to actually assist us out.”
Equatorial Guinea quarantined greater than 200 individuals and restricted motion final week in its Kie-Ntem province, the place the hemorrhagic fever was first detected.
Marburg virus is a extremely infectious illness that may have a fatality charge of as much as 88%, in accordance with the WHO. There aren’t any vaccines or antiviral remedies authorised to deal with it.
“We’re engaged on a 30-day response plan the place we should always be capable of quantify what are the precise measures and quantify what are the precise wants,” Ameh stated.
He added that the nation’s authorities had not reported any new suspected instances within the final 48 hours.
