Marburg virus related to Ebola hits Tanzania, kills five people

Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan

 

Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a relative of Ebola, has been diagnosed as the strange illness that claimed five lives in Tanzania, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said that "our public health test findings have proven that this sickness is triggered by the Marburg virus" and advised the people to be calm since "the administration has succeeded in preventing the spread of infectious infections."

She said, "161 interactions are being tracked by the authorities, and three people are seeking medical care."

"There is no need to fear or halt business operations since Tanzania is not the first."

"We have all we need to combat the contagious illness," said Mwalimu.

This week, the nation of East Africa sent a faster reaction team to the bordering Ugandan area of Kagera's northwest region to investigate the ailment.

The Marburg virus is a very deadly bacterium that often results in haemorrhaging and respiratory failure in addition to a high temperature.

It belongs to the same so-called filovirus family as Ebola, which has caused devastation in multiple prior epidemics in Africa.

Tanzania's quick response to the epidemic was praised by the World Health Organization (WHO), which also said that it was prepared to make sure "there are no gaps in response."

In order to ensure that contacts are found and individuals in need of care are delivered at the appropriate time, WHO country representative Zabulon Yoti urged the community to work with the government.

Uganda, a neighbouring country that last saw an epidemic in 2017, said that it was "on high alert."

The African fruit bat, which contains the pathogen but is unaffected by it, is thought to be the Marburg virus's presumed natural source.

The virus was initially discovered at a facility in the German city of Marburg in 1967 after researchers came into contact with sick green monkeys brought in from Uganda.

The virus may spread from the animals to nearby primates, including living beings, and from humans to humans by contact with blood or other bodily fluids.

Based on the virus type and case treatment, mortality rates in reported cases have varied from 24 to 88 Percent in prior epidemics, according to the WHO.

While there are presently no vaccinations or antiviral medications, early candidate vaccines as well as blood products, immunological therapies, and pharmacological therapies are being studied as prospective treatments, according to the WHO.

Equatorial Guinea, a nation in West Africa, had an epidemic that claimed eleven lives and was first noted on January 7.

In South Africa, Angola, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there have been prior epidemics and isolated instances.

Three individuals died from an epidemic of leptospirosis, sometimes known as "rat fever," that Tanzania discovered the previous year in the southeast of Lindi.

Often, bacterial illness is transmitted by ingesting water or food that has been contaminated with infectious material, such as urine.

The sickness may have been brought on by "increasing contact" between people and wild animals as a consequence of environmental deterioration, according to Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the time.