According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Marburg, a lethal Ebola-like virus with a death rate of up to 88 percent, has been declared eradicated in Tanzania.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced an epidemic in the northwest Kagera area in March; nine cases and six fatalities were documented.
Fever, headache, weariness, bloody vomit, and diarrhea are all signs of Marburg. It is transmitted from fruit bats to humans and belongs to the same viral family as Ebola.
Despite the lack of vaccinations or antiviral therapies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the government worked quickly to stop the spread of Marburg.
Matshidiso Moeti, the organization’s head for Africa, said, “Tanzania has been able to end this outbreak and limit the potentially devastating impacts of a highly infectious disease.”
Government chief medical officer Tumaini Nagu said at an event in northwest Tanzania that WHO criteria were strictly adhered to before pronouncing the epidemic to be ended.
On April 19th, the last verified case in Tanzania was found to be negative. After a mandated 42-day countdown, an epidemic is considered finished.
Humanity’s rapid expansion, experts argue, has increased the possibility of worldwide pandemics by placing more humans in contact with bats that carry viruses like Marburg, Ebola, and others.
Four African nations, including Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, which have been responding to an epidemic since February, have seen Marburg outbreaks during the last two years where the virus had not previously been found in people.
If no new cases are found in Equatorial Guinea in the next week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated in a media conference that the epidemic will be declared finished
