Rwanda is battling its first-ever outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus, with 36 cases reported so far and 11 deaths.
The World Health Organization said this week the risk of the outbreak is very high in Rwanda, high across the African region, and low global.
Marburg is a virus from the same family as Ebola. It causes a haemorrhagic fever and has an average fatality rate of 50%, according to the WHO, although rates have been as high as 88% in previous outbreaks.
Early clinical care and rehydration can improve survival, the U.N. health agency says.
Symptoms typically include a sudden high fever and extreme headache, as well as vomiting and diarrhea, following by uncontrolled bleeding.
It was first identified in Marburg, Germany – hence the name – and Belgrade, Serbia in 1967, after laboratory work with African green monkeys from Uganda led to human infections.
Since then, there have been outbreaks and sporadic cases in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, the WHO says.
Marburg spreads to humans from prolonged exposure to mines or caves where Rousettus fruit bats live. It can also spread between humans, through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, or with surfaces or materials contaminated with those fluids, such as blood.
