The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Thursday announced that it would dispatch an expert team to Tanzania to help respond to a Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak.
The announcement came after the Tanzania Ministry of Health declared Monday the first outbreak of the deadly disease in the Bukoba district located in the country’s northwestern Kagera region, which has killed five, with three others admitted to hospital. Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu urged the public to take precautionary measures against it.
The Africa CDC warned of a potential cross-border spread, which the agency is studying with the Tanzania Health Ministry as this would inform regional surveillance strategies for containing the outbreak. Uganda borders the Kagera region to the north, Rwanda to the west and Burundi to the southwest.
Two African Union member countries, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, have reported active MVD outbreaks, Africa CDC disclosed in a press release on Thursday.
MVD is a highly fatal, zoonotic hemorrhagic disease caused by the Marburg virus, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through human-to-human transmission.
Although there has been no available licensed vaccine or approved treatment for the disease, supportive management improves survival, the Africa CDC said, citing existing infection prevention and control protocols for Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers that could be used to prevent transmission of the virus.
MG/abj/APA