IAn outbreak of the life-threatening Marburg fever has been confirmed in East African Tanzania. Five people have died so far in connection with an infection with the virus, said Tanzania’s Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu on Tuesday. A total of eight infections are known so far. “There is no reason to panic. We have everything we need to control infectious diseases,” the minister said. The outbreak is under control and has been limited to the Kagera region in the northwest of the country.
The virus, which is related to the Ebola pathogen, causes headaches, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding and can be fatal. The virus is named after the German city of Marburg, because laboratory workers there became infected with the previously unknown virus in test monkeys in 1967. It is believed that the virus originated from flying foxes, which are related to bats.
People become infected through contact with body fluids of infected people. Just over a month ago, the World Health Organization confirmed an outbreak of Marburg fever in Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.