At least five have been reported dead as the Marburg disease outbreak is confirmed in Tanzania this evening with neighboring countries staying alert.
Tanzania health minister Ummy Mwalimu confirmed the outbreak of Marburg virus indicating that five people had dead while three others hospitalised and contact tracing ongoing.
“Our public health laboratory results have confirmed that this disease is caused by the Marburg virus,” Ms Mwalimu said.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease is rare but a severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people and non-human primates.
“The disease is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (or, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family. The six species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family,” says CDC.
Last month, the disease was reported in Equatorial Guinea with no fatalities.
In 2012, and 2014, at least five people were reported dead from the killer disease after it was announced to have arrived in the country. But later that year, the World Health Organsiation (WHO) pronounced that the country was free of the disease.
