Equatorial Guinea announced its first outbreak of the highly-infectious Marburg disease — a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola. The disease has a fatality rate that can reach 88%.
The virus spills over from fruit bats to humans, and once transferred can spread between people through bodily fluids with the virus able to persist for several days on surfaces. The last outbreak of Marburg ended last September in Ghana, with three confirmed cases.
There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved for the virus, but there are candidates. Researchers held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to examine the prospect for quickly rolling out clinical trials during the current outbreak.