Marburg fever in Angola
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As if there was not enough plagues striking the continent, Angola is facing an outbreak of Marburg fever.
By now, almost 150 peoples died from that virus from the same family as the deadly Ebola.

This is medical informations about this dreadful plague.

It is a severe and highly contagious form of haemorrhagic fever.

The virus was first discovered in 1967, during simultaneous outbreaks at laboratories in the former Yugoslavia and Frankfurt and Marburg, Germany.

About one in four people infected with the virus die, usually from shock or liver failure. However, in areas where medical support is poor, the death rate can be much higher.

The disease can then become increasingly damaging, causing jaundice, delirium, liver failure, and extensive haemorrhage, which can give rise to bloody diarrhoea and vomiting of blood (heamatemesis).

The patients can make a full recovery but it can take a long time, and some suffer from related conditions such as hepatitis, inflammation of the spinal cord and eye problems.

There is no cure yet, but one important thing is to keep patients from dehydration.

Experts believe the virus is rare and only found in Africa.

Cases have occurred in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Angola.