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Marburg virus disease: what is it, what are the symptoms and how worried should we be?

Two people have died in Ghana from the Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease in the same family as Ebola for which no treatment yet exists.

Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: AP

It is the first declared outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in the country, and the the second in west Africa after Guinea confirmed a case last year.

The source for the infection in Ghana is not yet known and the World Health Organization (WHO) is warning the often fatal disease could be a serious public health threat. Here is what you need to know.

Related: Ghana reports first cases of deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus

How does the Marburg virus spread?

The virus is transmitted to people by fruit bats and can then spread from human to human via body fluids, including on contaminated clothing or surfaces, according to the WHO.

The first outbreak was recorded in 1967 in Germany after staff woking at a laboratory in the town of Marburg became infected with the disease from monkeys brought in for studies from Uganda. Outbreaks since then have mostly been detected in eastern and southern Africa.

What are the symptoms?

At its early stages, after an incubation period between two and 21 days, patients can present with headache, muscle aches, fever, and chills. The virus can then cause haemorrhaging, organ failure, weight loss, jaundice, delirium and pancreas inflammation, according to the WHO. Fatal cases usually have some form of bleeding, often from multiple parts of the body.

Given early symptoms are similar to many other tropical febrile diseases such as Ebola, malaria, and typhoid, the WHO says it can be difficult to identify.

The average fatality rate for MVD is 50%. At its lowest, the fatality rate was 24% during the first recorded outbreak in Germany. However, the fatality rate reached 88% in Angola during a 2005 outbreak, resulting in 329 deaths.

According to Prof Oyewale Tomori, the president of the Nigerian academy of science and a virology expert, there is a “great deal” we don’t yet know about MVD. This includes whether infection can be caused by contact with bat droppings in caves.

What is the treatment for the virus?

There are no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments to treat MVD, according to the WHO. However, patients have a chance of survival if specific symptoms are treated, and if supportive care is provided such as rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids.

A range of treatments are being evaluated, including blood products, immune therapies, and drug therapies.

Where has it been detected?

No cases of MVD have been detected outside Africa in the latest outbreak. The two people who died from the disease had been in Ghana’s Ashanti region, the most populated part of the country.

The cases were not found to be epidemiologically linked, nor had they had contact with animals, sick people, or attended social gatherings, the WHO said. More than 100 close contacts, including health workers and family, were identified but no one later tested positive.

What steps have been taken to contain the outbreak?

Ghana’s ministry of health is coordinating a response with aid agencies, including enhancing surveillance for the virus and epidemiological investigations. A hospital in the Ashanti region has been designated to care for any additional suspected cases.

According to the WHO, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso are also preparing for an outbreak.

Reference:  The Guardian: 

Monkeypox: Gay and bisexual men ‘should limit number of partners to prevent spread’ WHO warns - OLD

Gay and bisexual men should limit the number of their sexual partners to protect themselves from monkeypox and help halt the spread of the virus, the World Health Organisation has said.

Men who have sex with men are currently at the highest risk of infection, the WHO’s monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis said on Wednesday, with at least 95 percent of patients in this category.

Director-general of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “For men who have sex with men, this includes for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners, reconsidering sex with new partners, and exchanging contact details with any new partners to enable follow up if needed.

“The stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus and can fuel the outbreak. As we have seen with Covid-19 misinformation, and this information can spread rapidly online.”

More than 18,000 monkeypox cases have now been reported globaly, according to WHO data.

There have been 2,432 reported cases in the UK, with 2,367 confirmed cases and 65 “highly probable”, UKSA numbers show.

Provided by The IndependentTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has encouraged people to reduce their number of sexual partners to prevent the spread of monkeypox (AP)

The majority of the cases have been in England and a high proportion - 73 percent - were London residents. In the UK, 99.3 percent of cases are men, with only 18 cases recorded among women.

Monkeypox is spread mainly through skin-to-skin contact during sex, the WHO have said. “If there’s no intervention in a circumstance where there’s a lot of skin-to-skin contact on a regular basis, perhaps in the context of multiple partnerships or contact with anonymous partners, then that would be a circumstance, without intervention, where the virus can spread more easily,” Ms Lewis said.

She continued: “It’s very important for anyone who has monkeypox to isolate, so that they can protect anyone else living in their household or anyone else they may be in contact with.

“Household transmission is how this was first discovered, and household transmission may in some circumstances begin to occur.”

Reference: The Independent: Holly Bancroft

Nigerian politician and wife who ‘plotted to harvest man’s kidney for their daughter’ to face trial

ANigerian politician and his wife accused of plotting to harvest a man’s kidney for their daughter are set to face trial at the Old Bailey.

 AFP via Getty ImagesIke Ekweremadu.jpg

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, are alleged to have transported the 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.

Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.

The man is said to have refused to consent to the procedure after undergoing tests at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, northwest London.

The Ekweremadus allegedly treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey.

The couple were arrested at Heathrow Airport on 21 June after arriving on a flight from Turkey. They appeared in the dock at Westminster Magistrates’ Court over the charges on Thursday.

Ike Ekweremadu is charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, while his wife is charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

The couple were not asked to enter pleas, but the court heard they have indicated they will plead not guilty.

They deny the allegations, claim that there was a criminal conspiracy, and will say no exploitation occurred, it was said.

Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram remanded them in custody ahead of their next appearance at the Old Bailey, for a plea and trial preparation hearing, on 4 August. 

Reference: The Independent:  Chiara Giordano

Diastasis recti: What to know about this common postpartum condition

Diastasis recti: What to know about this common postpartum condition

 What are the causes?

Excessive inner-abdominal pressure causes diastasis recti. During pregnancy, your abdominal muscles and connective tissues are stretched out from your expanding uterus. They’re helped along by the pregnancy hormones relaxin and estrogen. Pushing during delivery can also lead to diastasis recti. Experiencing some abdominal separation during and following pregnancy is expected.

Reference: Expresso Communications: Charlotte Grainger