World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus flanked by Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Sabin Nsanzimana address a press conference on the Marburg virus outbreak at the Kigali Convention Center in Kigali, Rwanda, October 20, 2024.
Kigali, December 20 — Rwanda has declared an end to the country’s Marburg virus outbreak following the recovery of the last patient 42 days ago, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana told a news conference on Friday.
The East African country confirmed its first cases of the disease, a viral hemorrhagic fever that can cause death, among some patients, in mid-September.
It reported 66 confirmed cases with 15 deaths and 51 recoveries, the health ministry said on Friday.
“It has been a long journey but today, here come to the end of Marburg outbreak in Rwanda. So, Marburg is over according to World Health Organization guidelines,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana told a news conference.
“It took us for 42 days since the last patient tested negative and discharged… Last night at midnight exactly, was the end of the 42nd day therefore we declare Marburg over in Rwanda.”
Rwanda launched a vaccination trial against Marburg virus on October 7 and by then the virus had killed 12 people since it was declared an outbreak in Rwanda on September 27.
Authorities said at the time that the first cases had been found among patients in health facilities, but there was no confirmation of the source of the outbreak
The experimental vaccine was provided by the US BASED Sabin Vaccine Institute and first focused on those ‘most at risk, most exposed healthcare workers working in treatment centres in hospitals, in ICU, in emergency and also the close contacts of the confirmed cases.
Like Ebola, the Marburg virus is believed to originate in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contacts with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces such as contaminated bedsheets.
Its symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and in some cases extreme blood loss, often leading to dealth.
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana.
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