Ghana Health Service to begin nationwide profiling of Marburg Virus
As a means to tackle the Marburg Virus, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is scheduled to embark on nationwide profiling to establish the extent of the spread of the virus in the country.
The Service points out that this is the only way it can identify the extent of spread in order to implement measures to curb it.
So far the GHS has discharged 39 out of the 98 people who had been in isolation after coming into contact with one of the two people who recently died after contracting the Marburg virus.
Two men reported to the Adansi North District hospital in the Ashanti region at the end of last month, exhibiting symptoms of acute haemorrhagic fever. They died shortly after being admitted.
Those discharged had completed the 21-day isolation period and did not show any symptoms.
Ghana would have to wait for 42 days without a new case before declaring that the outbreak is over.
Responding to the development on 3FM on Wednesday, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye explained that “the nationwide profiling of Marburg virus will take place to know the extent of spread”.
“For now, this is being treated as a localized outbreak.”
He said, “the service will provide more PPEs to health workers to be able to fight these diseases but health workers have to be more conscious”.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye explained that “as frontline workers, that is our job. We just have to be more cautious and believe that it is the type of work we do”.
