United News of Bangladesh

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed on Monday that a sample from northern Tanzania tested positive for Marburg disease, a highly contagious virus with a fatality rate of up to 88% if untreated. President Hassan made the announcement in the capital, Dodoma, during a joint briefing with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The WHO had earlier reported a suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania’s Kagera region on January 14, linking it to eight deaths. However, Tanzanian health authorities had initially dismissed the claim, stating that tests conducted on samples yielded negative results. Hassan clarified that while one sample tested positive for the virus, 25 other samples returned negative. Bird flu found in a Georgia commercial flock for the 1st time amid the nationwide outbreak Marburg, which is closely related to Ebola, is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spreads through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces like soiled bedsheets. Common symptoms of the virus include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and, in severe cases, death due to significant blood loss. There is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the disease. This marks the second Marburg outbreak in Kagera since 2023. The latest case comes just a month after neighboring Rwanda declared the end of its own Marburg outbreak. Rwanda reported 66 infections and 15 deaths in its outbreak, which was first detected on September 27. Many of the affected were healthcare workers who attended to the initial cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on January 15 that a suspected outbreak of Marburg disease has resulted in eight fatalities in a remote area of northern Tanzania. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that there have been nine cases so far, with eight deaths. He stated, "We anticipate more cases in the coming days as disease surveillance efforts intensify." Who is Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the New Orleans truck attack suspect? Marburg, like Ebola, is caused by a virus that originates in fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces, such as bedding. The disease has a fatality rate of up to 88% without treatment, with symptoms including fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and in severe cases, death due to significant blood loss. There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for Marburg. The WHO assessed the outbreak's risk as high at the national and regional levels, but low on a global scale. Tanzanian health authorities have not yet issued a response. A Marburg outbreak in Rwanda, first reported on September 27, was declared over on December 20, after claiming 15 lives and infecting 66 individuals, primarily healthcare workers who treated the initial cases. Additionally, a 2023 Marburg outbreak in Kagera, near the Rwanda border, resulted in at least five deaths.