Tanzania declares end of Marburg viral outbreak (updated)
02/06/2023 15:47
(Adds comment by Tanzania medical officer in paragraph 6, WHO's
Tedros on Equatorial Guinea in paragraph 10)
DAR ES SALAAM, June 2 (Reuters) - Tanzania has declared
the end of its first-ever outbreak of Marburg, a deadly
Ebola-like virus with a fatality rate of up to 88%, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
Nine cases, including six deaths, were recorded in the
outbreak, which was declared in March in the northwest Kagera
region, WHO said.
Marburg's symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and
blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea. It is from the same virus
family responsible for Ebola and is passed on to people from
fruit bats.
While there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for
Marburg, WHO said timely intervention by its local office along
with government efforts helped prevent the disease from
spreading.
"Tanzania has been able to end this outbreak and limit the
potentially devastating impacts of a highly infectious disease,"
said Matshidiso Moeti, its director for Africa.
Speaking at an event in northwest Tanzania, the government's
chief medical officer Tumaini Nagu said WHO guidelines were
closely followed before declaring the outbreak as over.
The last confirmed case in Tanzania tested negative on April
19. An outbreak is declared as over after a mandatory countdown
of 42 days.
Rapid human development has pushed people deeper into the
habitats of bats that transmit Marburg, Ebola and other viruses,
amplifying the risk of global pandemics, scientists say.
Over the past two years, Marburg outbreaks have occurred in
four African countries where the virus had not previously been
detected in humans, including Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea,
which has been responding to an outbreak since February.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a
media briefing the outbreak in Equatorial Guinea would be
declared over next week if no further cases are detected there.
(Reporting by Nuzulack Dausen; Additional reporting by Leroy
Leo and Sriparna Roy; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by
Aaron Ross and Angus MacSwan)
((Bhargav.Acharya@thomsonreuters.com;))