Guinea records West Africa's first Marburg virus death, WHO says

Guinea's new case was first identified last week, just two months after the country was declared free of Ebola following a brief flare-up earlier this year that killed 12 people

Guinea was officially declared an Ebola epidemic in February, 2021. Picture: AP Photo/Jerome Delay-File

Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

It marks the first time that the deadly disease has been identified in West Africa. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.