Mississauga, ON - World Vision has joined the Angolan government's fight against the fatal Marburg virus. Since the start of the outbreak, there have been almost 100 known deaths, primarily in Uige Province, in the northern part of the country.

Angola's vice minister for health, Jose Van Dunem, announced on March 25 that Marburg was officially an epidemic in Angola. He described the situation as a national emergency and raised fears that the disease would spread widely if not quickly controlled.

World Vision's Africa Relief Team responded immediately by announcing that it would allocate $100,000 of emergency funding.

"To date there are 107 known cases of Marburg and 96 deaths registered, mainly among children under two years of age," says World Vision's director of operations, Jon White. "The virus has already spread to the capital city Luanda."

Reports of a mystery illness causing deaths through excessive bleeding first occurred in November 2004. Last week, laboratory tests detected the Marburg virus in nine of 12 samples sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Marburg virus is a severe type of hemorrhagic fever, which destroys clotting agents in the blood by infecting and breaking down tissue in internal organs. There is no vaccine or curative treatment, so the virus often leads to uncontrollable bleeding. In addition, bodily fluids of infected people are highly infectious.

World Vision is supporting efforts of the Angolan Ministry of Health to stop the virus from spreading. World Vision will provide: transport and survival costs for health technicians; protective materials including, gloves, hats, masks, boots, protective clothing, and eye protection; and disinfectants.

World Vision will also provide support for surveillance teams and health activists who will monitor and control the spread of the epidemic and raise awareness about the virus. World Vision's health manager, Dr. Ana Mangueira, will work in close coordination with the head of the Angolan ministry of health coordination team, Dr. Filomeno Fortes.

"Uige is one of the weakest provinces from the point of view of health facilities," Van Dunem says, adding that a shortage of medical staff and resources makes the management of epidemics difficult. "In hospitals worldwide, the mortality rate from the Marburg virus is around 30 per cent, but in our case it's much higher."

The World Health Organization has promised to send in extra staff for surveillance and outbreak control, while World Vision will provide materials, help identify the extent of the disease, and put measures in place to limit its spread.

An incubation period of 21 days makes it highly likely that Marburg has spread to other parts of Angola, according to government specialists and World Vision staff. With World Vision's assistance, surveillance will be increased in the high-risk provinces of Bengo, Zaire, Malange, and Kwanza Norte, which border Uige, as well as the capital Luanda.

Background Information

Marburg Virus was first identified in 1967, when outbreaks of a hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously . The virus is extremely rare and very little is known about it. The largest outbreak occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from late 1998 to late 2000.

The Marburg virus affects both humans and non-human primates, but as with the Ebola virus, the animal host is unknown. Bats have been suspected. How the virus enters human populations still remains a mystery. Presently, there is no cure, although treating symptoms (loss of bodily fluids, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, secondary infections) greatly increases the chances of survival. Angola's health-care system, however, is still in decay since the war and far from adequate to cope with a major spread of the disease.

In the past, the Ugandan government commended World Vision for its response to the related disease, Ebola, in 2000. Hundreds of people died in that outbreak, including many medical staff.

World Vision is an international Christian humanitarian relief and development organization, working in more than 90 countries helping approximately 85 million people each year. Canadians sponsor more than 310,000 children through World Vision.