The minister also confirmed that five people have so far been killed by the deadly disease.
Marburg outbreak in Tanzania, Uganda on high alert
The minister for health in Tanzania, Ummy Mwalimu, has confirmed the outbreak of Marburg in the northern parts of Tanzania
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“Our public health laboratory results have confirmed that this disease is caused by the Marburg virus,” Mwalimu said.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health says it has put areas surrounding the Tanzanian border on high alert and also deployed medical specialists to monitor the situation.
“There an outbreak of the Marburg disease in the northern Tanzania. We have been able to put the areas surrounding the Tanzanian border on high alert,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Emmanuel Ainebyona said, adding that medical specialists have been deployed in the areas to monitor the situation.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the disease is a rare severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people and non-human primates.
“The disease is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (or, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family. The six species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family,” says CDC.
Last month, the disease was reported in Equatorial Guinea with no fatalities.
In 2012, and 2014, at least five people were reported dead from the killer disease after it was announced to have arrived in the country. But later that year, the World Health Organsiation pronounced that the country was free of the disease.
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