Luanda - The world's worst outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus has claimed 311 lives in Angola, a joint statement by Angola's health ministry and the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.
Three hundred deaths were recorded in the northern province of Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak, it said, adding that 337 cases had been detected since October last year.
A week ago, Angolan Health Minister Sebastiao Veloso said the southern African nation was gaining the upper hand in its battle against the deadly virus.
"Everything indicates we are on the road towards controlling the epidemic. We are no longer in the same situation which we were in just three weeks ago," he told Lisbon-based Radio Renascenca.
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There is no cure for the virus, whose exact origin is unknown and which was first detected in 1967 when West German laboratory workers in the town of Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.
It spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement, vomit, saliva, sweat and tears but can be contained with relatively simple hygenic precautions, according to experts.
The most serious outbreak of Marburg until now had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000. - Sapa-AFP
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