Tanzania Denies New Outbreak of Marburg After WHO’s Alert

The Tanzanian government has refuted claims by the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding a suspected new outbreak of the Marburg virus in the northwestern Kagera region. WHO had raised an alert on Tuesday, reporting that nine suspected cases of the deadly virus had been identified over a five-day period, with eight fatalities.

However, Tanzania’s Health Minister, Jenista Mhagama, dismissed these reports, assuring both the public and international health bodies that all tested samples had returned negative results for Marburg virus.

“After samples were analysed, all suspected cases were found negative for Marburg virus,” Mhagama said in a statement. She added that the country had strengthened its disease surveillance and monitoring systems to prevent further confusion.

In a reassuring message to global health organizations, Mhagama also stressed Tanzania’s commitment to transparency, stating, “We would like to assure the international organisations, including WHO, that we shall always keep them up to date with ongoing developments.”

Despite the Tanzanian government’s reassurances, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that more cases could emerge in the coming days as disease surveillance improves in the region. “We expect further cases in the coming days as disease surveillance improves,” he said.

WHO has already placed healthcare workers and other individuals who may have been exposed to the virus under close monitoring. Rapid response teams have also been deployed to track potential cases and contain any further spread.

Though WHO described the global risk of the outbreak as “low,” it cautioned that the regional risk was “high,” due to Kagera’s status as a key transit hub with significant cross-border movement to neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda.

“We do not recommend travel or trade restrictions with Tanzania at this time,” Dr. Tedros stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter), reassuring the international community that the situation was being closely monitored.

Tanzania had previously experienced its first Marburg virus outbreak in March 2023, when six people died in the Bukoba district, marking the country’s initial encounter with the disease. The outbreak lasted for nearly two months and raised alarms over the virus’s potential to spread in East Africa.

The Marburg virus, a highly infectious disease similar to Ebola, causes symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and severe bleeding in later stages. On average, the virus kills about half of those infected, though mortality rates can vary. The disease is transmitted from fruit bats to humans and spreads through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals.

Currently, there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for Marburg, though medical trials are ongoing. In December 2023, Rwanda declared the end of its own Marburg outbreak, which had infected 66 people and claimed 15 lives.

Following the WHO alert, Tanzanian health officials deployed experts to the Kagera region to conduct further investigations and collect additional specimens. However, while Minister Mhagama confirmed that laboratory tests had ruled out a new Marburg outbreak, she did not disclose the total number of suspected cases that were examined during the investigation.

As the situation develops, Tanzanian authorities are continuing to monitor the region closely, working to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure that any emerging health threats are swiftly addressed.