DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s government said no-one in the country had tested positive for the Marburg virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least eight people in the northwest were believed to have died from it.
“As of 15th January 2025, laboratory results for all suspected individuals were negative for Marburg virus,” Jenista Mhagama, the country’s health minister said in a statement released late on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the WHO said it had received reliable reports of suspected cases of Marburg virus in the region of Kagera on Jan. 10.
Victims had presented with typical Marburg symptoms, including headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhoea, vomiting blood, muscle weakness and external bleeding.
The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88%, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats endemic to parts of East Africa.
After receiving information on the suspected cases, Mhagama said the ministry took immediate measures, including the deployment of a team of experts to the area, event investigation, the collection of specimens and laboratory testing.
At a virtual press conference from Geneva on Thursday, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tanzania should “send the samples it has collected to international reference laboratories and to collect additional samples in accordance with normal procedure.”
WHO is supporting the Tanzanian government and is ready to provide additional help if needed, he added.
Tanzania suffered its first Marburg outbreak in 2023, recording nine cases, including six deaths, in the same area.
In the statement, the minister said Tanzania had “strengthened disease surveillance systems” in response to the reports of the outbreak.
Tanzania was criticised during the COVID-19 outbreak for not sharing data on the infection and ignoring preventive measures.
(Reporting by Nuzulack Dausen; Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Barbara Lewis)
