4 Gulf countries direct not to travel to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea due to the spread of the “Marburg” virus

Yesterday, Saturday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain called on citizens to postpone travel to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, after an outbreak of the “Marburg” virus was detected.

The Saudi Public Health Authority, “Prevention”, called on citizens of the Kingdom to avoid traveling to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea due to the spread of the “Marburg” virus in them.

An official source in the Saudi authority said that this recommendation extends to “until the disease is controlled.”

For its part, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “We urge the citizens of the country who are there to take caution and follow the safety instructions issued by the competent authorities.”

While the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, in a statement published on Twitter, called on its citizens to avoid traveling to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, noting that this was based on the recommendations of the Gulf Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the recommendations of the Ministry of Health.

“We call on all citizens not to travel at the present time to the Federal Republics of Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, in order to ensure their safety and preserve their health,” the Bahraini News Agency quoted a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying.

Last Thursday, the Omani Ministry of Health recommended that its citizens not travel to these two countries except for the most urgent necessity.

The Omani Health Ministry stated that the ministry is closely monitoring the disease in these two countries, as it is highly contagious, and the death rate ranges from 60% to 80%.

The Marburg virus belongs to the same family of viruses as the Ebola virus, and causes similar symptoms, most notably fever, muscle pain, kidney and liver dysfunction, and sometimes internal and external bleeding, according to the World Health Organization.

Marburg is transmitted between humans through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person, or by contact with contaminated surfaces and other materials, and the death rate from the virus is very high.

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for Marburg virus disease.

The disease was first detected in 1967 after successive outbreaks occurred in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia, according to the World Health Organization.

The Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) is the natural host of the virus, from which the virus is then transmitted to people.