WHO has confirmed that Equatorial Guinea has reported its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus. It is an Ebola-related virus and is behind at least nine deaths in the Western African country.
Symptoms of Marburg virus include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms also include a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach).
Nausea, chest pain, a sore throat, and abdominal pain may also appear due to Marburg virus.
Marburg virus symptoms can become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging and multi-organ dysfunction.
Marburg virus originates in bats and spreads between people via close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, or surfaces, like contaminated bed sheets.
There are no authorized vaccines or drugs to treat Marburg virus, but rehydration treatment to alleviate symptoms can improve the chances of survival.
Without treatment, Marburg disease can be fatal in up to 88% of people.
Rare Marburg virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, a town in Germany and Serbia's Belgrade.