Rwanda struggles to contain Marburg virus outbreak

Rwanda reported 8 deaths up to Sept 30 from Marburg virus, which shares many properties with Ebola, as authorities race the clock to contain the spread of the virus.

Most of the deaths were reported among medics operating in an intensive care unit, Rwanda’s health minister Sabin Nsanzimana said.

At least 20 cases have been registered so far of the virus which has a fatality rate of up to 88%, on par with Ebola.

The virus spreads from bats to humans and then through contact with bodily fluids or infected individuals.

Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss.

The health minister said officials were tracking about 300 people who had come into contact with individuals affected by the Marburg virus.

The World Health Organization is scaling up its support and will work with Rwandan authorities to help stop the spread, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday on the social media platform X.

Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Ghana, according to the WHO.