Following Equatorial Guinea’s initial outbreak, Cameroon dismisses suspected Marburg infections

After a first fatal outbreak in nearby Equatorial Guinea, the health ministry of Cameroon has disregarded a report of two probable cases of the Marburg virus there. After Malabo confirmed nine deaths and sixteen potential infections on Tuesday, health officials near the border reported two suspected cases of the severe hemorrhagic fever in Cameroon. Cameroon’s health ministry denies the incidents, but claims it is stepping up border patrols and imposing travel restrictions.

Despite reports of two potential infections, the health minister for Cameroon, Manaouda Malachie, claims that the country has no known instances of the Marburg virus.

A teenage boy and girl with a high fever were sent to a hospital in Olamze, close to the Equatorial Guinea border, on Monday, according to health officials in Cameroon’s South region on Tuesday.

The kids are being treated and are being kept in isolation, according to health officials, who also claimed they are suspected of having the Marburg virus.

When he spoke to Cameroon Radio Television on Wednesday, though, Malachie appeared to refute those stories.

Malachie asserts that Cameroon’s policy to limit travel along its border with Equatorial Guinea in an effort to halt the spread of the Marburg virus, a disease similar to Ebola, has so far been successful. According to him, Cameroon had not reported any fatalities or suspected cases of the Marburg virus as of Wednesday at noon, central African time.

According to Malachie, residents should keep their distance from animals and visitors to Equatorial Guinea. They should also ensure that anyone who exhibits symptoms like fever, exhaustion, or who vomits or urinates blood is kept apart from other people.

Malachie said that its porous border with Equatorial Guinea, which reported Monday that it had experienced its first epidemic of the fatal virus, puts it at risk.

After Equatorial Guinea placed hundreds of individuals under quarantine in Kie-Ntem Province, where the hemorrhagic fever was originally discovered, Cameroon last week claimed that it had restricted border crossing.

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After receiving a warning on February 7 from a health authority, Equatorial Guinea allegedly sent samples to the Pasteur Institute in Senegal, where one of them was found to be positive.

Marburg, which transmits between people by bodily fluids and has a death rate of up to 88%, was brought to humans by fruit bats, according to the WHO.

The Marburg virus belongs to the same family as the Ebola virus, but unlike Ebola, there are no vaccines for Marburg; instead, there are only therapies for its symptoms, such as dehydration and fever.
Health experts from Gabon and Cameroon met on Tuesday in Yaoundé, and they decided to cooperate to stop the virus’s spread. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea both share borders with Gabon.

Francois Bingono Bingono, a sociology instructor at the University of Yaoundé, was present.

According to him, it will be difficult to stop the virus because of the frequent border crossings.

Bingono claims that in 2020 Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea limited travel along their border to safeguard their inhabitants from COVID-19, but residents on both sides disobeyed the order. He claims that people on both sides of the border between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea are members of the same ethnic groups, speak the same language, and share in the joys and sorrows of similar occurrences.

According to Bingono, unidentified health professionals are having difficulty warning villagers that a terrible virus threatens their lives in border areas.

He claims that in order to persuade their people, they will need the help of traditional leaders.

According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Belgrade, Marburg, and Frankfurt laboratories all experienced simultaneous outbreaks of the virus in 1967.

Marburg is a very recent city in West Africa but not in Africa.

Two people died in Ghana’s outbreak in September of last year, while Guinea reported the first instance of the virus in West Africa in 2021 when one person died there.

Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda were among the countries where the WHO recorded prior occurrences.