Authorities at Mzuzu Central Hospital say five people have been isolated over suspected marburg infections.
This is according to an internal memo issued at the facility on 6th April signed by the hospital Director Ted Bandawe which warn members of staff to be vigilant with infection.
In the memo, Bandawe said people with these suspected marburg infections are coming from different places.
“This is to inform you that of late we have isolated 5 people with suspected communicable infection of public concern. One or two are being treated as typhoid fever. They are coming from different places. The other three are being treated as adult measles.
“The first two who presented with bleeding are doing very well for all the bleeding has stopped. The other three family members did not present with any bleeding,” reads part of the memo.
The memo further indicates that the precautionary measures are being taken and that a team from Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM) is on the ground working with the facility and Mzimba North DHO and has since urged the staff to follow preventive measures.
“We would like to ask everyone to continue doing health surveillance and adhere to infection prevention measures,” reads another part of the memo.
Marburg virus is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the Filoviridae family of viruses and a member of the species Marburg marburgvirus, genus Marburgvirus. It causes Marburg virus disease in primates, a form of viral hemorrhagic fever. The virus is considered to be extremely dangerous.
Meanwhile, the Ebola-like disease has killed five people in the neighbouring Tanzania and three further cases were in March reported at a hospital in the country’s north-west Kagera region as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that through contact tracing, approximately 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection in Tanzania.
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