The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared an outbreak of the highly contagious Marburg virus in Ghana after two men died from the disease. And while there is cause for concern in the African nation, experts say there is no reason to panic in Canada just yet.
The disease, a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola, is transmitted to humans by flying foxes, according to the WHO, and is transmitted between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected humans and surfaces.
So far, only four cases have been detected in Ghana.
Though the virus is highly contagious, some infectious disease experts say they are not worried about the virus affecting Canada at this time.
“International travel may result in this infection spreading beyond Ghana’s current borders… but it should not be a cause for concern for the general public, at least for now,” Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center, told Global News.
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The WHO explains the outbreak of the highly contagious Marburg virus in Ghana
Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, said that currently the risk of the virus coming to Canada and causing a major outbreak was “extraordinarily small”.
“The infection is very similar to Ebola, not identical, and we’ve seen small Ebola outbreaks grow larger … and in the larger outbreaks, we’ve also seen exported cases. They’re rare, but they’ve certainly happened,” he added.
Bogoch said that in the major Ebola virus outbreak in 2014, there were a handful of cases that were exported to countries like the United States.
“You usually see that with much larger outbreaks, but with four known cases in Ghana right now, you just have to keep an eye on them,” Bogoch said.
In the meantime, however, Vinh said Marburg could be a cause for concern for a number of reasons. First, he noted, it is a “deadly and terrible disease.”
“It’s like Ebola, where once infected you can go into the late stage of the disease where you’re bleeding from every orifice of your body. And that is the cause of death. So this is a very terrible infection,” Vinh said.
The second reason for concern is that there is no established vaccine and antiviral treatment for Marburg.
“Obviously it’s worrying because international spread may result in this infection spreading beyond Ghana’s current borders… so it’s worrying for the medical and scientific community, but it shouldn’t be… for the general public,” Vinh added .
In the first two cases in the Ashanti region of southern Ghana, both people experienced symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting before dying in hospital, the WHO said on July 17.
“We have two other cases,” said Dr. Ibrahima Soce Fall, deputy director-general for emergency response at the World Health Organization, addressed journalists on Wednesday.
Both people are being treated in hospital.
This outbreak is only the second time the disease has been detected in West Africa, after Guinea confirmed a single case detected in August 2021, according to the WHO. The outbreak in Guinea was reported over five weeks later.
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Previous Marburg outbreaks and isolated cases have occurred in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, the WHO said.
Soce Fall said the information received from Ghana indicated about 180 contacts were traced and WHO teams made sure none were overlooked.
He also said the cases had been reported in three different regions in Ghana, creating a “very difficult” situation.
“While cases are not high at the moment, … we need to make sure every hotspot can be stopped or it gets more complex,” he said.
Both Vinh and Bogoch said global climate change and human intrusion into the environment are contributing to serious virus outbreaks.
Vinh said that all viruses such as COVID-19, monkeypox and marburg were originally transmitted from animals to humans.
“COVID was transmitted from a rodent to a human, and now with Marburg it’s being transmitted by bats … so these outbreaks are a sign that there is great potential for animal-to-human transmission,” Vinh said.
He also said this is happening because people are moving into new areas where animals live and those animals have their own infections.
“We have climate change, which is changing the habitats of animals and causing them to spread to areas where they would not normally spread. And that, in turn, leads to the proximity of animals to humans,” Vinh said.
“This increase in infections with COVID, with monkeypox, with Marburg reflects how we need to step back and recognize that there is ecological disruption due to human activity at the root of all of this,” he added.
Vinh said that in addition to developing antiviral drugs for these infections, society should take a step back and recognize that human encroachment into newer land may need to be curtailed.
“I think the fact that this is happening repeatedly tells us that, you know. We’re trying our luck here,” he said.
Bogoch echoed that sentiment, saying these virus outbreaks are not accidents.
“We have a very, very connected world where we know that someone who has an infection on one side of the world can spread it to the other side of the world in just 24 hours,” he said.
Bogoch also believes this will not be the last declaration of a virus outbreak – there will be more as human intervention and global climate change continue their course.
– with files from Reuters and Associated Press
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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