Tanzania: Marburg virus outbreak kills 5
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Tanzania confirmed its first-ever cases of the Marburg virus. The illness can cause a highly fatal viral hemorrhagic fever with symptoms similar to those of Ebola, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Tanzania's health ministry on Tuesday confirmed that five people have died and three others are being treated for the Ebola-like Marburg disease.
According to Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu, the cases were identified in the western region of Kagera and the government had managed to control its spread to other regions.
Quick response.
In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the confirmation of the disease by Tanzania's national public laboratory came after the death of five of eight people who reported symptoms in the Kagera area.
The victims' symptoms include fever, vomiting, bleeding and renal failure.
A health worker was among the dead, according to WHO. The three survivors are under medical care.
Some 161 contacts are being monitored for a display of any 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," said Matshido Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.
"We are working with the government to rapidly scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus."
Individual cases and outbreaks of Marburg have been in the past recorded in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, the WHO reported.
High Alert.
Neighboring Uganda and Kenya are on high alert due to the outbreak.
Equatorial Guinea is also battling its first-ever outbreak of Marburg, which was confirmed in February.
The African Union's public health agency acting director, Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, tweeted that the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would deploy immediately to strengthen response and limit the spread of the disease.
The Marburg virus has a fatality rate of 88% and is from the same virus family that causes Ebola. It is transmitted to people from bats and spread through close contact with bodily fluids of infected persons or surfaces, like contaminated bed sheets.
There are no authorized vaccines or drugs to treat Marburg, although rehydration treatment to alleviate symptoms can improve survival chances.
The rare virus was identified in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks of related diseases in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia.
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