Rapid action prevented the spread of the deadly disease in just two weeks since its detection, WHO reports.
The first case of the disease was confirmed on October 17 after laboratory tests linked the death of a 50-year-old woman to the Marburg virus. This was the fifth outbreak of Marburg virus in a decade
Marburg is a fatal disease which is caused by a virus from the same family as that of Ebola. It can be spread from person to person by bodily fluids and can cause bleeding, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and other symptoms, VOA reports.
“Within 24 hours of being informed by the Ugandan health authorities in early October, WHO deployed a rapid response team to the remote mountainous area and we have financed the immediate support and scaled up the response in Uganda and Kenya,” said World Health Organization spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib.
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