Tanzania has confirmed a second outbreak of the disease of the Marburg virussimilar to Ebola, which means the second epidemic of this disease experienced by the country, after the outbreak in 2023 in the same area.
The president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has confirmed this new outbreak originated by the Marburg virus in the northwestern region of Kagera.
The laboratory tests performed (…) in Kagera and subsequently confirmed in DAR is Salam (Economic Capital) identified a patient infected by the Marburg virus. Fortunately, the rest of suspicious patients gave negative, ”Hassan revealed in a joint press conference with the general director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the capital of the country, Dodoma.
“We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain a similar out of nine suspicious cases, including nine deaths, in two districts of Kagera: Biharamulo and Muleba.
As detailed by the Tanzana President, a total of another 25 suspicious cases gave negative in the evidence and are being monitored.
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WHO’s help in Tanzania against Marburg
On the other hand, Tedros said that “the WHO, together with its partners, undertakes to support the Government of Tanzania to control the outbreak as soon as possible”, through the strengthening of key measures, such as surveillance, testing, treatment and treatment and disease prevention.
The declaration of the outbreak by the president and the measures that the government is taking are crucial to deal with the threat of this disease at the local and national level, as well as to prevent its possible cross -border propagation, ”he said in the aforementioned statement, On the other hand, WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti.
President Hassan shared this information after the Tanzano Ministry of Health initially discarded a Marburg outbreak as a cause for suspicious cases detected by WHO, after the negative results obtained in the first tests carried out until day 15.
According to the organization, “cases presented similar symptoms of Headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhea, hematemesis (vomiting with blood), discomfort (body weakness) and, in a more advanced phase of the disease, external hemorrhage (orifices bleeding) ”.
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Other sprouts of the Marburg virus
Kagera was already in 2023 scenario of another Marburg outbreak, the first experienced by Tanzania, with at least nine cases (eight confirmed and one probable) and six dead. The beginning of that epidemic was declared on March 21 and its end on June 2, 2024.
Confirmation about the new outbreak Just a month after Ruanda declared on December 20, 2024 the end of the Marburg epidemic that was confirmed on September 27 and registered 66 confirmed cases, 15 deaths and 51 recovered patients.
Before, there were cases in other countries such as Ghana, Guinea-Conakri, Uganda, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Africaas well as another outbreak in Equatorial Guinea in 2023, which left 17 confirmed cases, including 12 deaths.
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This is how Marburg’s virus acts
Like Ebola, Marburg virus causes sudden bleeding and can produce death in a few days, with an incubation period of 2 to 21 days and a mortality rate of up to 88%.
The fruit bats are the natural guests of this virus, which when transmitted to humans can be infected by direct contact with fluids such as blood, saliva, vomiting or urine.
Marburg virus He is so deadly such as Ebola and it is estimated that in Africa it has caused the death of more than 3,500 people.
The disease, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment, was detected in 1967 in the German city of Marburg -origen of her name- by laboratory technicians who were infected when they investigated monkeys brought from Uganda.
(With EFE information)
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