Politics Six dead from Marburg fever in Rwanda

There has been an outbreak of the highly contagious Marburg fever in Rwanda. So far, six patients have died from the viral disease, said Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana in a statement from the ministry published on the X platform.

A total of 26 cases have been confirmed. The 20 patients currently being treated are mainly medical staff and are in isolation. Investigations are currently underway to determine the origin of the outbreak, it said. Prevention measures are being stepped up in all healthcare facilities.

The Marburg virus causes fever with symptoms such as cramps, bloody vomiting and diarrhea - according to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 88 percent of those infected die. The pathogen bears the name of the German city because laboratory employees there were infected with the previously unknown virus in experimental monkeys in 1967. People become infected through contact with the bodily fluids of infected people. It is suspected that the virus originates from fruit bats.

SDA