Uganda declares end of deadly Marburg outbreak

KAMPALA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health on Friday declared the end of the deadly Marburg Viral Disease (MVD) in the eastern districts of Kween and Kapchorwa.

Sarah Achieng Opendi, state minister for health in charge of general duties, told reporters that Uganda is now free from Marburg after completing the mandatory required 42 days of the post surveillance period for the contacts of last confirmed case.

The outbreak of the highly fatal virus was declared on Oct. 19 after laboratory tests confirmed that one person had succumbed to the virus on Oct. 13 in the eastern district of Kween.

At least four people died and 311 people were followed for being in contact with the confirmed cases.

"Today, marks 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case which occurred on Oct. 26, indicating that the MVD outbreak which occurred in Kween and Kapchorwa districts has been contained," said Opendi.

"The ministry is therefore pleased to officially declare the country free from the Marburg Viral Disease," she said.

The minister said the East African country spent 3.5 billion Uganda shillings (about 972,000 U.S. dollars), both in cash, services and material commodities from government and partners for the response and containing the outbreak.

The last Marburg outbreak in Uganda was reported in central and western parts of the east African country in 2014.

Marburg is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization.

According to the global health body, the illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with severe headache and malaise.

Case fatality rates have varied greatly, from 25 percent in the initial laboratory-associated outbreak in 1967, to more than 80 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998-2000, to even higher in the outbreak that began in Angola in late 2004. Enditem