The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning about a suspected new outbreak of the Marburg virus in north-west Tanzania, with at least eight confirmed fatalities. The highly contagious disease, similar to Ebola, poses a high risk of spreading in the Kagera region due to its position as a transit hub.
Hundreds have died from the virus in recent years, almost all in Africa. The World Health Organisation ( WHO ) has warned of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola -like Marburg virus in north-west Tanzania, saying that at least eight people have already been killed by the disease. On Tuesday, the WHO said that nine suspected cases of Marburg were reported in the region of Kagera over the last five days.
'We would expect further cases in the coming days as disease surveillance improves,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. The highly-infectious disease is similar to Ebola, with symptoms including fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss. Tanzania experienced its first Marburg outbreak in March 2023 in the Bukoba district. It killed about six people and lasted for nearly two months. What is the Marburg virus and how dangerous is it? The WHO reported that patients, including healthcare workers, have been identified and are being monitored. It added that the country's rapid response teams have been deployed to help identify suspected cases and contain the outbreak. The WHO cautioned that the risk of the virus spreading in the region remained 'high' because Kagera was a transit hub with much cross-border movement to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The WHO said the global risk posed by the outbreak was 'low', and there were no concerns at this stage of the disease spreading internationally. In December, neighbouring Rwanda declared the outbreak over in the country after the virus infected 66 people and killed 15. In March 2023, Tanzania's Bukoba district experienced its first Marburg virus outbreak, which killed about six people and lasted for nearly two months. The Marburg virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and then through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals
MARBURG VIRUS OUTBREAK TANZANIA WHO Ebola
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