Ghana has recorded two more deaths from Marburg virus disease.
The fatalities are relatives of two unrelated persons in southern Ashanti, Ghana, who were confirmed to have died from Marburg virus.
This brings the death toll from the recent outbreak of the disease to four.
The first case was a 26-year-old man who died on June 27, a day after being admitted in hospital.
The second was a 51-year-old man who died the day he was admitted on June 28, 2022.
WHO has since mobilised its staff to Ghana and placed neighbouring countries and other high-risk countries like Nigeria on alert.
The mortality rate from the disease is up to 88%. It is similar to Ebola and has no preventive vaccine.
The virus is transmitted from fruit bats or through body fluids from infected persons.
Some of the symptoms are headache, fever, vomiting and bleeding.
In fatal cases, death usually occurs between eight and nine days after onset of the disease.
According to WHO, Marburg is a rare but highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever and dead bodies remain contagious at burial.
The first case of the disease was in Marburg, Germany in 1967, killing seven people.
Marburg has also been reported before in Guinea, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The biggest outbreak of the disease was in 2005 in Angola, killing about 200 people.
photo credit: bbc
