The Marburg virus epidemic in Rwanda has officially come to an end, with no new cases reported for nearly two weeks and no fatalities in the past month, announced the Rwandan Minister of Health on Thursday.
“The Marburg epidemic in Rwanda is over,” stated Sabin Nsanzimana during an online briefing with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
“I am very pleased to announce that we have gone almost two weeks without a new case and a full month without any deaths related to the Marburg disease,” he expressed.
Furthermore, he added that “all patients who were treated for the virus have been discharged from hospitals.”
In this small nation located in the Great Lakes region, the outbreak resulted in fifteen deaths, Nsanzimana specified.
The epidemic was declared on September 28 in Rwanda, and a vaccination campaign using an experimental vaccine began last month.
With a high mortality rate, the Marburg virus causes severe fever often accompanied by hemorrhaging affecting multiple organs. It belongs to the filovirus family, which also includes the Ebola virus, known for causing several deadly outbreaks across Africa.
Animals can transmit the Marburg virus to nearby primates as well as to humans. Human-to-human transmission occurs through contact with blood or other bodily fluids.
