BEST OF AFRICA – MARBURG DISEASE

 RWANDA HAS CONFIRMED SIX DEATHS AND 20 CASES OF MARBURG DISEASE SINCE THE
BEGINNING OF THE EPIDEMIC, THE COUNTRY'S HEALTH MINISTER SABIN NSANZIMANA
SAID LATE ON SATURDAY.
 THE MAJORITY OF VICTIMS ARE HEALTH WORKERS IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT,
NSANZIMANA SAID IN A VIDEO STATEMENT POSTED ON X.
 MARBURG DISEASE, A VIRAL HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, CAN CAUSE DEATH AMONG SOME
PATIENTS, WITH SYMPTOMS INCLUDING SEVERE HEADACHE, VOMITING, MUSCLE ACHES
AND STOMACH ACHES, THE MINISTRY HAS SAID. INSTITUTIONS AND PARTNERS ARE
WORKING TO TRACE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH THE VIRUS-AFFECTED
INDIVIDUALS, THE MINISTER ADDED. WITH A FATALITY RATE OF AS HIGH AS 88%,
MARBURG IS FROM THE SAME VIRUS FAMILY AS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR EBOLA AND
IS TRANSMITTED TO PEOPLE FROM FRUIT BATS. IT THEN SPREADS THROUGH CONTACT
WITH BODILY FLUIDS OF INFECTED PEOPLE.
 WE ARE JOINED BY SYLIVANUS KAREMERA WHO IS A JOURNALIST BASED IN KIGALI,
RWANDA.