Guinea Confirms First Marburg Fever Case After Beating Ebola

(Bloomberg) -- Guinea has reported its first-ever case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a close cousin to the Ebola virus, according to its government and the World Health Organization.

Testing came back positive for the rare disease after samples were sent to neighboring Senegal’s Institut Pasteur last week, Sory Keira, a spokesman for Guinea’s National Health Security Agency, said by phone Monday. The samples were taken from the suspected case on Aug. 5 in the southern district of Gueckedou.

The now-deceased patient had 155 contacts which are being monitored daily, according to authorities.

This is the first time the disease has been recorded in West Africa after previous outbreaks in Germany, Serbia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. An emergency response, which includes cross-border surveillance, is being rolled out, the WHO said in a statement Monday.

“We are working with the health authorities to implement a swift response that builds on Guinea’s past experience and expertise in managing Ebola, which is transmitted in a similar way,” Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said in the statement.

The West African nation was only just declared free in June of an Ebola outbreak that claimed 12 lives after health authorities drew lessons from an epidemic which ended in 2016 to contain the spread. The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak infected more than 45,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing more than 11,000.

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