News Desk
- Tanzania initially denied WHO reports
- 25 suspected cases reported
- One tested positive
ISLAMABAD: Tanzania has confirmed an outbreak of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) in the northwestern Kagera region.
MVB can be highly infectious like Ebola that can be fatal in up to 88 per cent of cases without treatment.
According to the World Health Organisation, Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed the positive case during a press conference alongside WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the country’s administrative capital Dodoma.
The announcement came after the WHO first reported a suspected outbreak of the virus that was believed to have killed eight people in the Kagera region.
25 suspected cases
Media persons were told at least 25 suspected cases of the virus were reported, all of whom have since tested negative and are under close surveillance.
“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.”
WHO director-general said more needs to be done to contain the virus outbreak.
We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain a similar outbreak and are determined to do the same this time around.” – Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan
All cases have been reported in Biharamulo district in Kagera, she added.
Initial objection
According to the Independent, Tanzanian health authorities initially objected to the WHO, saying it suspected a Marburg virus outbreak in the country after it quickly spread through neighbouring Rwanda, which last month declared its own outbreak was over.
Rwanda reported 15 deaths and 66 cases in the outbreak first declared on 27 September, with healthcare workers who handled the first patients the majority of those affected.
What is MVB?
According to the (WHO), Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV) of the species Orthomarburgvirus marburgense are the causative agents of Marburg virus disease (MVD).
Both viruses are part of the Filoviridae family (filovirus) to which Orthoebolavirus genus belongs.
Though caused by different viruses, Ebola and Marburg diseases are clinically similar. Both diseases are rare but have the capacity to cause outbreaks with high fatality rates.
History of MVD
MVD was initially detected in 1967 after two simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and in Belgrade, Serbia. These outbreaks were associated with laboratory work using African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) imported from Uganda.
As per WHO data, outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, South Africa (in a person with recent travel history to Zimbabwe), Tanzania and Uganda.
In 2008, two independent cases were reported in travellers who had visited a cave inhabited by Rousettus aegyptiacus bat colonies in Uganda.
