Marburg virus disease amid Covid-19 in West Africa: An emerging and re-emerging zoonotic epidemic threat, future implications and way forward

Abstract

Amid the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several African countries including Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have reported several zoonotic outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has added more strain on the already fragile healthcare system, and consequently increasing the impact of both emerging and re-emerging diseases such as the current outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.1–4 On 28 June 2022, the health authorities in Ghana received reports of two fatal cases of MVD;1 by 29 July 2022, four confirmed case of MVD were reported with three deaths (case fatality ratio of 75%).