CNN
–
Cameroonian authorities on Monday detected two suspected cases of Marburg disease in Olamze, a commune on the border with Equatorial Guinea, the public health representative for the region, Robert Mathurin Bidjung, said on Tuesday.
Equatorial Guinea officially announced it The first outbreak Marburg virus, an Ebola-like disease, on Monday.
The neighbor was Cameroon Limited movement Following reports of an unknown, fatal hemorrhagic fever in Equatorial Guinea last week along the border to avoid contagion.
“On February 13, we had two suspected cases. These are two 16-year-old children, a boy and a girl, who have no history of previous travel to the affected areas in Equatorial Guinea,” Bidjung said at a meeting in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.
He said that 42 people who came in contact with the two children have been identified and contact tracing is on.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier on Tuesday that it was increasing its epidemiological surveillance in Equatorial Guinea.
The small central African country has so far reported nine deaths as well as 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus disease, which includes fever, fatigue, and bloody vomiting and diarrhea, according to the WHO.
“Surveillance has been intensified in the region,” said George Ameh, WHO country representative in Equatorial Guinea.
“Contact tracing, as you know, is a cornerstone of the response. We have redeployed… the Covid-19 teams that were there for contact tracing and they have been redeployed very quickly to actually help us.”
Equatorial Guinea last week quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement in its Ki-Entam province, where hemorrhagic fever was first detected.
Marburg virus is a highly contagious disease with a mortality rate of up to 88%, according to the WHO. No vaccines or antiviral treatments are approved for its treatment.
“We are working on a 30-day response plan where we should be able to figure out what the right measures are and what the right requirements are,” Ameh said.
He added that the country’s authorities have not registered any new suspected cases in the last 48 hours.
