Nine cases of the deadly disease have been reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania so far. But officials expect that number to rise.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a suspected outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of northwestern Tanzania, with nine people reportedly infected, of whom eight have died.

A Marburg virus outbreak in Tanzania has caused eight deaths and nine suspected cases. Symptoms include severe fever, headache, fatigue, and bleeding. With up to an 88% fatality rate, the virus spreads from fruit bats to humans.

Marburg virus is a close cousin of Ebola, causing similar symptoms and spreading in the same way. It can cause death in up to 88% of infected people.

Marburg virus disease, caused by a virus from the same family as Ebola, has a fatality rate of up to 88% without treatment.

In March 2023, Tanzania reported its first Marburg virus outbreak, which also occurred in Kagera region. The outbreak was declared over in June 2023, with nine infections reported, six of them fatal. The WHO said zoonotic reservoirs of the virus, such as fruit bats, remain in the area.

WHO has flagged a suspected Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of the United Republic of Tanzania. The virus has reportedly killed eight among the nine persons it infected.

Tanzania has pushed back against a report from the World Health Organization warning of a new Marburg virus outbreak in the country.

So far, nine people have been infected with suspected Marburg, with samples currently in a laboratory for official confirmation. Their symptoms included headaches, high fever, back pain, vomiting blood and, in the most serious cases, bleeding from their orifices.

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.