The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, says the first victim of the Marburg virus in Ghana may have been infected in the Western Region.

On July 8, two positive cases were reported in the Ashanti Region.

The first case was a 26-year-old male who checked into a hospital on June 26 and died on June 27. The second was a 51-year-old male who went to the hospital on June 28 and died the same day.

The two patients had reported at the same hospital with symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting, before dying.

According to Dr. Asiedu-Bekoe, preliminary investigations into the source of the outbreak had revealed that the first victim had previously been in Bogoso in the Western Region before coming to the Ashanti Region and suddenly falling ill.

He noted that as part of efforts to ensure that an outbreak does not occur somewhere else on the hindsight of the GHS, investigations are currently ongoing, earnestly, to locate the particular community the victim had visited prior to arriving in the Ashanti Region.

“We’re still investigating. If you look at the first case which we got, the index case, it’s like it came from the Western Region so the idea is that which part of Western Region is he coming from and initially he was like Bogoso, which is a big place. So we’re trying to drill down to a smaller community and then we’ll get an idea. So for now we’re not very certain.

“And let me say that in trying to ascertain the source, we’re working with wildlife division because it’s a zoonotic condition so they will have an idea where it is coming from. But I will say that from now it’s not clear the source of the outbreak,” he said.

In the meantime, 98 persons have currently been identified in a contact tracing effort in relation to the recent outbreak.

According to the Director, the number of contact traced persons is likely to increase over the coming days as the Ghana Health Service is bent on ensuring that no possible contacts become a source of transmission.

“As far as we are concerned we have been able to identify 98 contacts, that is not all the contacts. Because if you look at the trajectory it’s been like 34, we’ve gone to 63 and now 98. I’m sure we’ll still get more contacts, so don’t get surprised when we get more contacts tomorrow because we’re exploring to be sure that where did these people go so that we can be able to establish…but for now we have 98,” he said.

Of the 98, 50 are from the Ashanti Region and 48 from the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba area. The 50 in the Ashanti Region have since been discharged after being kept in quarantine for 21 days and testing negative for the virus.

The remaining 48 are still under supervision for any signs of the virus.

So far, all random tests conducted by the GHS have come out negative, he said.

Marburg is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials, the WHO says.

No treatment yet exists for Marburg, but doctors say drinking water and treating some of the symptoms improve survival rates.