Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, the Ghana Health Service's Director of Public Health, reports that 98 people have so far been found through contact tracing in connection with the nation's most recent Marburg virus epidemic.
In the Ashanti Region, two positive cases were recorded on July 8.
A 26-year-old man who entered a hospital on June 26 and passed away on June 27 was the first case. The second case involved a male patient, 51, who entered the hospital on June 28 and passed away the same day.
Before passing away at the hospital, the two patients had visited the same hospital with symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea, and vomiting.
The Ghana Health Service is determined to make sure that no potential contacts serve as a source of transmission, thus the Director predicts that over the following days, the number of contacts that have been identified will rise.
"As far as we are concerned, 98 contacts—not all of the contacts—have been identified. Because if you look at the trajectory, it was 34, then 63, and now it is 98. It's likely that we'll still make additional connections, so don't be shocked if we do so tomorrow. We're looking into where these folks went so that we can determine... However, we currently have 98.
"Of the 98, 48 are from Sawla-Tuna-Kalba and 50 are from the Ashanti Region. According to our 21-day incubation period, the 50 from Ashanti have thus recovered. You can thus claim that they have been released. We are now examining Sawla-Tuna-48. Kalba's So that's the situation right now, and I believe we will keep watching to make sure we don't miss any potential interactions because they might be a source of transmission, he stated on JoyNews' PM Express.
He stated that thus far, all tests performed on those with whose contacts have been tracked have had negative results, and the GHS plans to do more random testing in the near future to stop a spread.
"Only one health worker displayed symptoms, so samples were taken and submitted to Noguchi, who returned them negative. Then, I believe, we did something that was not unusual; typically, samples are taken when someone exhibits symptoms, but we tried to randomly choose some of the contacts, and when we did, the results were negative. But I believe it's only temporary, so they're stable for the time being, and we're keeping an eye on them, he added.
According to the WHO, marburg is transferred among people by direct contact with the body fluids of infected individuals, contaminated surfaces, and infected products. Marburg is transmitted to humans from fruit bats.
Although there is currently no cure for Marburg, experts suggest that addressing some of the symptoms and drinking water can increase survival chances.
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