Record number of deaths in Angola's Marburg outbreak, WHO says

At least 142 people have died from the Marburg virus in one province of Angola alone, officials said Friday.

The Ebola-like virus causes a severe hemorrhagic fever with headaches, nausea, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

• FROM MARCH 26, 2005: Canadians help fight Marburg in Angola

Angola's northern Uige province is the epicentre of the outbreak.

"This is the largest number of fatalities ever recorded during an outbreak of this rare but extremely severe disease," the World Health Organization said.

In 1998 to 2000, the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo experienced 123 deaths in 149 cases.

The UN body said more deaths were expected over the weekend.

Medical anthropologists are being sent to the African country to teach people how to prevent the virus from spreading during burial.

WHO is also sending staff to train health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo how to detect cases and manage them. Protective hospital equipment is also part of the package.

"Marburg can be controlled if people are put in isolation and their contacts are traced," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters.

While someone with Ebola can infect 12 people, someone with Marburg will infect about four others, she added.