Tanzania has reported its first outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease MVD after five deaths and three more cases were reported at a hospital in the country's north-west Kagera region.
The World Health Organization WHO said approximately 161 people have been identified as being at risk of infection through contact tracing. The government has deployed an emergency response team to the area and neighbouring countries have increased surveillance. There have been no reported cases outside Kagera.
The efforts by Tanzania's health authorities to establish the cause of the disease is a clear indication of the determination to respond effectively to the outbreak, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's regional director for Africa. We are working with the government to scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus and end the outbreak as soon as possible. The first patients displaying symptoms of the disease were first detected in two Kagera villages last week, according to a health memorandum on Tuesday by Tanzanian health minister Ummy Mwalimu.
The MVD was first discovered in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and Belgrade, Serbia in 1967. It comes from the same virus family as Ebola and causes a severe hemorrhagic fever, while fatality rates range from 24% to 88%. There have been several outbreaks since its discovery, with the worst being Angola in 2004 -- 2005, where there were 252 cases and 227 deaths.
The virus is transmitted through body fluids or contaminated objects from person to person and then from person to person to person. Family members and health workers are particularly vulnerable to infection.
Symptoms of the disease can range from fever, nausea and rash at the onset to jaundice and severe weight loss as the disease progresses. It has an incubation period of up to 21 days.
There are no vaccines or treatments for the virus, but a rehydration or managing the patient's blood and oxygen levels can increase the chances of survival, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Africa CDC is supporting efforts to contain the outbreak. Just a month after Equatorial Guinea confirmed its first case, Tanzania is battling the virus for the first time.
The emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are a sign that the health security of the continent needs to be strengthened to cope with the disease threats, said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, director of Africa CDC. We urge members of the public to share information in a timely manner with the authorities to enable a more effective response. The health ministry of Tanzania has called for citizens to take precautions and follow health directives until the situation is brought under control.