The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday urged the Federal Government to intensify screening and surveillance at the country’s borders, especially at the ports of entry, to prevent the importation of the Marburg disease. The union said this is not the time for the government to be politically correct or play big brother to other African countries, as this could be counterproductive.
It urged the government to reactivate isolation centres and ensure the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the country.
NMA President, Dr. Uche Ojinmah, who stated these while speaking with The Nation, also noted that the Marburg virus is deadlier than Ebola or Lassa fever because the death rate is nearly 90 per cent.
Worse, the NMA president said, is that the disease has no approved treatment or vaccine.
The WHO, on July 22, 2022, announced the confirmation of two fatal cases of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Ghana.
“An outbreak of MVD may represent a serious public health threat as it is severe and often fatal,” it said.
Marburg is highly infectious and has an incubation period of two to 21 days.
Some symptoms include high fever, severe headache, severe malaise, muscle aches and pain, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramping, nausea, and vomiting.
Ojinmah said: “Marburg to me is direr as a problem. When you deal with Monkeypox, you will be talking of a fatality rate of about five to 10 per cent. However, for Marburg, you are talking about 20 per cent to 90 per cent.
“This disease is like Ebola; in fact, it is a twin brother to Ebola. It is a viral hemorrhagic fever, like Ebola and Lassa fever, but it is worse than them.
“For me, the trumpet should be blown so that nobody should let it come in. We must immediately mount measures to contain it. I am happy that they have announced some containment measures pertaining to the entry points. Flight and vehicles coming from the Ghana axis should be properly screened.
“Anybody with fever, body pain, diarrhoea, bleeding from any part of the body, should not be allowed into the country but should be taken straight to an isolation centre. Others in the same vehicle or plane with the person should also be quarantined.”