Nine people have died following an outbreak of an ‘eye-bleeding’ Ebola-like virus known as Marburg.
Marburg, one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered, has infected ten people in Tanzania since the country officially announced the outbreak last week.
he cases were reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania, located in the northwest of the country, which has a population of nearly three million.
But because the country’s main international airport in the capital, Dar es Salaam, is easily accessible by train, experts are worried the disease could spread further, The Sun reported.
Ngashi Ngongo, from the Africa Centre for Disease Control Centre (CDC), told an online briefing they are doing everything they can with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to limit the toll of the outbreak.
Authorities have identified ‘about 281 contacts’ of the 10 cases, which are being closely monitored for infections.
‘There have been a total of 31 tests that have been conducted, two confirmed, and 29 I think, that are negative,’ Ngongo said.
Marburg is a haemorrhagic fever where organs and blood vessels are damaged, causing bleeding internally or from the eyes, mouth, and ears.
The virus can be spread by touching or handling the body fluids of an infected person, contaminated objects, or infected wild animals.
The WHO says it has a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of up to 88 percent, meaning it can kill nearly nine in ten people it infects.
The outbreak in Tanzania comes less than a month after a Marburg outbreak in neighbouring Rwanda was officially declared over.
A total of 66 people were infected, roughly 80 percent of which were healthcare workers
The country reported 15 deaths, with Rwanda’s response praised internationally for its low death rate of 23 percent, the lowest ever for a Marburg outbreak in Africa.