Marburg virus disease: what is it, what are the symptoms and how worried should we be?

Two people have died in Ghana from the Marburg virus.

A highly infectious disease in the same family as Ebola for which no treatment yet exists.

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It is the first declared outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in the country.

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The second in west Africa after Guinea confirmed a case last year.

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The source for the infection in Ghana is not yet known.

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The virus is transmitted to people by fruit bats and can then spread from human to human via body fluids.

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Outbreaks since then have mostly been detected in eastern and southern Africa.

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The average fatality rate for MVD is 50%.

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