Thursday, January 30, 2025 - Global health chiefs have raised an alarm after nine people d!ed in a new outbreak of an 'eye-bleeding' Ebola-like virus.
Marburg, one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered, has already
infected ten people in the African nation of Tanzania since the country
officially announced the outbreak last week.
Of these infections nine have died Africa's health agency has
announced, reflecting the virus's 90 percent mortality rate.
The cases were reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania. The area is
located in the northwest of the country and 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.
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