The suspected case of infection by the Marburg virus in Spain has not been confirmed, the Spanish Ministry of Health said this Saturday. According to Radio Cadena SER, despite the similar symptoms, the presence of the Ebola virus was also ruled out.
The Spanish health authorities had announced on Friday night that a 34-year-old man was isolated at the La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Valencia on suspicion of having contracted the Marburg virus.
The patient was in Equatorial Guinea and presents symptoms compatible with the disease. As a precaution, and because the travel period until reaching Spanish soil could correspond to the incubation and development of the disease, samples were sent to the laboratory of the Instituto de Saúde Carlos III, in Madrid, which confirmed that it was a false alarm. .
Equatorial Guinea is currently facing an outbreak of the disease for the first time. The virus has already caused nine deaths and forced the isolation of at least 4,000 people since the beginning of February. In Cameroon, two suspected cases have also been confirmed.
The World Health Organization classifies the Marburg virus as severe and fatal, with an average mortality rate of between fifty and eighty percent. However, although it is dangerous, it is not transmitted by air, but by biological contact with infected people, such as blood and vomit.
The virus causes hemorrhagic fever, muscle aches, weakness, headaches, and painful sensations when swallowing. The incubation period is five to ten days, during which there is no risk of transmission.
The disease was first detected in 1967 in the German cities of Marburg and Frankfurt, as well as in Belgrade, Serbia.
News updated at 14:30
Source: TSF
