KIGALI (Reuters) – Rwanda has confirmed six deaths and 20 cases of Marburg disease since the beginning of the epidemic, the country’s health minister Sabin Nsanzimana said late on Saturday.
The majority of victims are health workers in the intensive care unit, Nsanzimana said in a video statement posted on X.
“We are counting 20 people who are infected, and six who have already passed away due to this virus. The large majority of cases and deaths are among healthcare workers, mainly in the intensive care unit,” the health minister said.
Marburg disease, a viral hemorrhagic fever, can cause death among some patients, with symptoms including severe headache, vomiting, muscle aches and stomach aches, the ministry has said.
Institutions and partners are working to trace those who have been in contact with the virus-affected individuals, the minister added.
With a fatality rate of as high as 88%, Marburg is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola and is transmitted to people from fruit bats. It then spreads through contact with bodily fluids of infected people.
Neighbouring Tanzania had cases of Marburg in 2023, while Uganda had similar ones in 2017.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru and Philbert Girinema in Kigali; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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