UAE: Avoid travelling to countries hit by Marburg outbreak, health official urges

UAE: Avoid travelling to countries hit by Marburg outbreak, health official urges

A senior health official has reiterated the UAE’s advice to avoid travelling to two countries affected by the outbreak of the Marburg disease. Dr Farida Al Hosany, executive director of the Infectious Disease Sector at Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, urged residents to put off travel to these countries “for the time being”.

Earlier, the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) had urged residents to postpone travel to Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania “unless absolutely necessary”.

In a video posted on Sunday, Dr Farida — who had become the face of the UAE’s Covid response at the peak of the pandemic — discussed the Marburg virus, its symptoms and how it spreads.

She explained that the Marburg disease is a rare but severe haemorrhagic fever. “Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that limited cases of the disease have been confirmed in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea. Fruit bats are the main carriers of the Marburg virus, and humans may be infected in various ways: direct contact with fruit bats, or exposure to body fluids and secretions of these bats, which are usually found in caves or mines in the affected regions,” she said.

Humans can also catch the virus from infected animals like “monkeys,