Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed on Monday that there has been a new outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in the East African country.
The president said in a press briefing broadcast from the capital Dodoma that “a confirmed case of Marburg virus marks the second outbreak” in Tanzania since 2023.
Last week, the World Health Organization said eight people had died from the suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania, and the risk nationally was considered “high”.
That report has not been confirmed by Tanzania.
Instead, Hasan said authorities had “identified a patient (who) is infected with the Marburg virus”.
“The cause of the earlier deaths in the community has not been confirmed and efforts are ongoing to trace the source of infection,” he said.
A total of 26 suspected cases were tested and only one came back positive, he said.
The case was recorded in the north-western Kagera region, which borders Uganda and Rwanda.
WHO said Kagera was the site of the country’s first Marburg outbreak in March 2023, which lasted about two months and included nine cases, including six deaths.
“We have demonstrated our ability to contain similar outbreaks in the past and are committed to doing the same this time,” Hasan said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visiting Dodoma, pledged the UN agency’s “continued support to bring the outbreak under control.”
“Since the first suspected cases from Marburg were first reported, Tanzania has stepped up its response by setting up case detection, setting up treatment centers and a mobile laboratory for testing samples, and deploying national response teams,” he said in a statement. Has increased.”
“Considering the low global risk and the strong capabilities of the Tanzanian government, WHO advises against restrictions on trade and travel in the country.”
The latest case in Tanzania comes a month after WHO declared the end of the three-month-long Marburg outbreak in neighboring Rwanda, which killed 15 people.
Marburg causes highly contagious hemorrhagic fever. It is spread by fruit bats and belongs to the same virus family as Ebola.
Mortality rates can approach 90 percent, with Marburg fever often accompanied by hemorrhage and organ failure.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
