The Disease Control Department has instructed international disease control checkpoints at all ports of entry to screen all arrivals from countries currently reported to be affected by Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) as a precautionary measure.
Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong said today (Monday) that The World Health Organisation reported the first-ever outbreak of MVD on February 13th, in Equatorial Guinea, and that 200 people who are considered as being at high-risk have been quarantined.
He added that two cases, plus 42 more likely cases, have been reported in Cameroon, which borders Equatorial Guinea.
In Thailand, he said that MVD is classified as one of 13 dangerous infectious diseases, in accordance with the Infectious Diseases Act, although the disease has not yet been detected in the country.
Meanwhile, DCD Deputy Director-General Dr. Sophon Iamsirithavorn said that, currently, Thailand has not yet imposed a travel ban to or from Equatorial Guinea or Cameroon, but screening of arrivals from these two African countries has been tightened up.
If an arriving passenger is suspected of being infected, Thai health officials have been instructed to take fluid specimens for tests and the person will be informed of the results within three hours.
After an incubation period of 2-21 days, the onset of symptoms is rapid and marked by a fever, chills, headache and myalgia. Around five days following the onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the truck, may occur. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea may occur. Symptoms become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive haemorrhaging and multi-organ dysfunction.
Equatorial Guinea confirmed its first-ever outbreak of MVDdisease on February 13th. Preliminary tests carried out following the deaths of at least nine people in the country’s eastern Kei Ntem Province turned out positive for the viral haemorrhagic fever on one of the samples.
