Kenyan health officials have declared a state of emergency after neighboring Tanzania discovered the first-ever case of the Marburg virus.
The Health Ministry directed all health personnel at different points of entry on Wednesday to screen all Tanzanians entering the nation.
Tanzania has confirmed eight cases of Marburg, a high-death viral hemorrhagic fever with symptoms broadly similar to those of Ebola.
Tanzanian health officials said on Tuesday that laboratory tests indicate that the Marburg virus caused a strange illness. That killed five people in Kagera region last week, according to Xinhua news agency.
As the virus spreads in Tanzania, Kenya’s Ministry of Health’s port health officer, Benjamin Murkomen, has ordered all health surveillance staff and emergency response teams to increase screening.
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, stated that the WHO is collaborating with the Tanzanian government to “rapidly scale up control measures to halt the spread of the virus and end the outbreak as soon as possible.”
According to the WHO, Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes hemorrhagic fever. With a fatality ratio of up to 88 per cent; it is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease.
Illness caused by the Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache, and severe malaise. Many patients develop severe hemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
The virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats. And spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces, and materials.
There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus, the WHO said.
However, supportive care — rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids — and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival.
The symptoms include high fever and severe headache. And malaise typically develops within seven days of infection, according to the WHO.
