WHO: Eight dead in suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania

Kathmandu: The WHO has said that a suspected outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Tanzania had killed eight people, warning that the risk of further spread in the country and region was ‘high’.

The United Nations health agency said it had informed its member states on Monday of an outbreak of suspected Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of Tanzania.

‘We are aware of nine cases so far, including eight people who have died. We would expect further cases in coming days as disease surveillance improves’, said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on social media platform X.

The announcement came less than a month after WHO declared over a three-month Marburg outbreak in neighbouring Rwanda, which killed 15 people. Marburg causes a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever. It is transmitted from fruit bats and belongs to the same family of viruses as Ebola.

With a fatality rate that can reach close to 90 percent, Marburg’s fever is often accompanied by bleeding and organ failure. The Kagera region experienced its first Marburg outbreak in March 2023, lasting for nearly two months, with nine cases including six deaths.

WHO said, it pointed out that zoonotic reservoirs, such as fruit bats, remain endemic to the area. It said it assessed the risk at the national level as high due to several concerning factors. These included the high known fatality rate of 89 percent that source of the outbreak is currently unknown and that cases had been reported from two districts, suggesting “geographic spread”.

Likewise, WHO pointed out that Marburg is not spread easily, and typically requires contact with the body fluids of a sick patient with clear symptoms.

However, it cannot be excluded that a person exposed to the virus may be travelling and It assessed the global risk as low pointing out that there was no confirmation of international spread at this stage, but stressing the need for enhanced surveillance said WHO.

RSS/AFP