Marburg Disease: Tanzania confirms virus outbreak

After reports of cases and fatalities in the nation's northwestern Kagera region, laboratory tests were conducted on Tuesday, leading to the confirmation of Tanzania's first-ever Marburg Virus Disease cases. This comes five weeks after Equatorial Guinea declared a Marburg virus illness outbreak there after nine people died there.

Once eight people started exhibiting symptoms like fever, vomiting, bleeding, and kidney failure, Tanzania's National Public Health Laboratory examined samples to identify the illness's source.

The World Health Organization reports that three of the remaining eight cases are being treated while five of them, including one involving a health professional, have already passed away. There are now 161 contacts that are being watched.

The haemorrhagic fever caused by the highly virulent Marburg virus disease has a death rate of up to 88%. It belongs to the same family as the Ebola virus family of pathogens.

The Marburg virus causes sudden onset of high fever, severe headache, and severe malaise. During seven days, many individuals experience severe hemorrhagic signs. The virus is spread among people through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, infected surfaces, and infected objects. It is transmitted to humans from fruit bats.

The virus cannot be treated with any approved vaccinations or antiviral medications. Survival is improved with supportive care, such as rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, and treatment of specific symptoms.

“The efforts by Tanzania’s health authorities to establish the cause of the disease is a clear indication of the determination to effectively respond to the outbreak. We are working with the government to rapidly scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus and end the outbreak as soon as possible,” said the World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.

The international health organization stated that it is assisting the Ministry of Health in sending an emergency team to Kagera to do additional epidemiological research.

Source