Ghana confirms cases of rare Marburg virus

(Image credit: The marburg virus, as seen under a microscope.)

published 18 July 2022

In Ghana, two people died after testing positive for the rare and highly contagious Marburg virus, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.

Health officials in the West African country said the people both lived in the southern Ashanti region and were not related. Dozens of people who came in contact with them are being monitored, and the WHO has sent specialists and resources to Ghana to help with this outbreak — the country's first.

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Marburg is from the same family as Ebola, and there is no vaccine. Fatality rates can reach nearly 90 percent, the WHO said, and the virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats. It can spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, and bodies can remain contagious at burial. Symptoms begin "abruptly," the WHO said, and include high fever, malaise, muscle aches, and severe headaches.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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