A child from Ghana who had the highly contagious Marburg virus, which resembles Ebola, has passed away, a representative of the World Health Organisation, WHO, announced on Tuesday.
Since Ghana reported its first-ever Marburg outbreak last month, there have been three fatalities in the nation as a whole.
Only the second outbreak has occurred in West Africa. Guinea reported the first known incidence of the virus in the area last year.
According to the WHO, the virus spreads among individuals by direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces, and materials and is introduced to humans by fruit bats.
The WHO announced two additional cases last week, one of which was the dead infant, whose gender and age were not given.
“Last week I mentioned the two additional cases. One is the wife of the index case and the other one is the child of the index case and the child unfortunately died, but the wife is still alive and improving,” WHO doctor Ibrahima Soce Fall told reporters.
Only three verified cases have been reported by the Ghanaian health ministry, and additional testing needs to be done on a fourth suspected case, according to Soce Fall.
The WHO previously reported that the first two patients, in southern Ghana’s Ashanti area, both showed symptoms like diarrhea, fever, nausea, and vomiting before passing away in hospitals.
Meanwhile, the first death caused by the monkeypox virus has been confirmed by Ghanaian health authorities.
The afflicted person was a military officer who passed away in northeastern Ghana three days after being admitted to the hospital. The deceased experienced skin rash and feverish symptoms.
Thirteen people who are thought to have contact with the deceased are currently being watched in isolation.