Mystery Nosebleed Disease in Burundi Kills Three Within 24 Hours
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VIVA – An outbreak of a mysterious nosebleed virus has killed three people in Burundi, a town in West Africa. This condition has forced dozens of others into strict quarantine.
Local media reports have said that the Baziro area has been quarantined after two of the infected cases were moved there for treatment. A Migwa Health Centre nurse said the disease "kills quickly", with the three fatalities all coming within 24 hours of the patient first showing symptoms.
The symptoms of the disease are similar to the highly dangerous Ebola and Marburg viruses. According to witnesses, signs of the disease include nose bleeding after the victim has died.
"Signs of abdominal pain, increased nose bleeding after death, acute headache, high fever, vomiting, and dizziness," as reported by Burundi's SOS Media news website.
This comes following neighboring Tanzania announcing a Marburg outbreak earlier this month, with the disease considered a "very high" risk by the World Health Organization (WHO) to surrounding countries.
Mimisan akibat tekanan darah tinggi.
- U-Report
In July last year, doctors were dispatched to Burundi to investigate a mysterious "nosebleed" disease in southern Tanzania that claimed the lives of three people.
Moreover, news of the mysterious disease has generated fear in the community given that there are little locals can do to protect themselves from the virus apart from basic hygiene measures.
"So far, no real prevention strategy against this disease has been communicated," a government cabinet member told SOS Media in Burundi.
"Apart from washing hands and avoiding greeting each other, there are no strict measures that could increase contamination."
The Ministry of Health has since advised Burundians to wash their hands with clean water and soap and avoid unprotected contact with bodily fluids, consuming wild animals, and touching corpses with unknown causes of death, as a measure to protect themselves.
