(MENAFN) The World Health Organization (WHO) has convened an emergency meeting to address the outbreak of the Marburg virus, which is currently spreading in Equatorial Guinea. WHO officials are looking at several vaccine candidates that could potentially stop the pathogen that causes hemorrhagic fever, which has a fatality rate of up to 88 percent.

Marburg, which is considered highly dangerous, is known to cause a form of viral hemorrhagic fever, leading to symptoms such as bleeding from the nose, mouth, or other body parts, extreme lethargy, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, and abdominal pain. The virus is from the same family of viruses as Ebola and is highly infectious, posing a significant threat to public health in the affected regions.

At least nine people have lost their lives to the illness in Equatorial Guinea, with more than a dozen suspected cases. The WHO officials have held an "urgent" meeting to review the situation and announced that medical experts and protective gear would be sent to the country to address the outbreak. Additionally, samples would be taken to a lab in Senegal to help trace the origin of the new outbreak.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, has emphasized the urgency of responding to the outbreak as quickly as possible, stating that "Marburg is highly infectious. Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible."

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