Kuwait Warns against Travel to Marburg Virus Outbreak Countries

The Kuwait Ministry of Health (MoH) has advised against travel to Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania due to the outbreaks of the Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus in those countries.

The MoH has recommended that Kuwaitis avoid these countries and their neighboring regions and follow the preventive measures issued by the local health authorities to reduce the risk of infection. This announcement was made on Saturday in a statement released by the MoH.

The Ministry of Health is closely monitoring the global health situation and the epidemiological developments of the Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, in coordination with international health authorities.

The World Health Organization reports that the disease has an incubation period of two to 21 days and a high mortality rate of 88%. The virus is transmitted through contact with infected body fluids such as blood and secretions.

Symptoms of the Marburg virus disease include high fever, severe headache, extreme fatigue, and watery diarrhea, along with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting that may appear on the third day of infection. Severe hemorrhagic symptoms may appear on the fifth to seventh days, and fatalities can occur between the eighth and ninth days.