The health ministry in Equatorial Guinea reported 2 more deaths in people with symptoms of Marburg virus infection, which would raise the outbreak total to 11 cases, all fatal.
On Twitter and in an official statement, officials also said there are four other suspected cases, involving three people with mild symptoms in hospital isolation and one person in the community. Overall, 48 contacts have been identified, and 15 samples from suspected cases have been collected for lab testing.
The country announced its first outbreak of Marburg virus, a close relative of Ebola, earlier this month. A few days ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) posted an update on the investigation, which was triggered by a cluster of suspicious deaths between early January and early February in eight people from the same district, some of whom had participated in a burial of a patient with similar symptoms.
Marburg virus, like Ebola, spreads through contact with an infected patient's body fluids. It has a fatality rate as high as 88%, and there are no approved vaccines or treatments, though some vaccines are in clinical trials.