Ekeomah Atuonwu
A boy from Ghana who had the highly contagious Marburg virus—which is similar to Ebola—has died, according to a representative of the World Health Organization.
Since Ghana reported its first-ever outbreak of the disease last month, there have been three fatalities in the nation as of Tuesday. Only two outbreaks have been reported in West Africa; the first was found in Guinea last year.
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.
According to the WHO, the virus is conveyed by fruit bats directly to humans, who then come into direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces, and objects.
The Ghanaian health ministry has only disclosed three confirmed instances thus far, and additional testing must still be done on a fourth suspected case, according to Fall.
