Tanzania confirms outbreak of highly infectious Ebola-like virus
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Neighbouring Rwanda reported 15 deaths and 66 cases in last year’s outbreak of Marburg. Tanzania’s president has confirmed the outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease (MVD), a highly infectious virus like Ebola that can be fatal in up to 88 per cent of cases without treatment.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed a positive case in the northwestern Kagera region during a press briefing alongside World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the country’s administrative capital Dodoma.
It was after WHO first reported a suspected outbreak of the virus that is believed to have killed eight people in the Kagera region. “Laboratory tests conducted at Kabaile Mobile Laboratory in Kagera and later confirmed in Dar es Salaam identified one patient as being infected with the Marburg virus. Fortunately, the remaining suspected patients tested negative,” the president said.
“We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain a similar outbreak and are determined to do the same this time around.”. The president said a total of 25 suspected cases of the virus have been reported as of 20 January, all of whom have tested negative and are under close surveillance, she said.
All cases have been reported in Biharamulo district in Kagera, she added. Tanzanian health authorities initially objected to WHO suspecting cases of Marburg virus in the country after it quickly spread through neighbouring Rwanda, which declared its own outbreak of the disease was over last month.
