Brazzaville (AFP) – The risk of spread of the lethal Marburg disease, detected in Guinea, is ‘high’ according to Dr Matshidiso Moeti. West Africa’s first recorded case of the virus — which belongs to the same filovirus family as Ebola but is somewhat less deadly — was confirmed on August 9. The virus, which is carried by bats and has a historic fatality rate of up to 88 percent, was found in samples taken from a patient who died on August 2 in Guinea’s southern Gueckedou prefecture.
