A rare, highly contagious Ebola-like virus has claimed eight lives in Rwanda, and U.S. health officials are closely monitoring the outbreak.

Marburg virus causes a rare hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment. 

No cases related to the Rwanda outbreak have been reported in the United States, and the current risk to Americans is low, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement issued Monday. 

“Marburg is a rare disease,” Rwanda’s Health Minister, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, told journalists Sunday night, the Associated Press reported. “We are intensifying contract tracing and testing to help stop the spread.”

Rwanda first declared an outbreak on Friday. 

So far, 26 cases have been confirmed, the AP reported. The first six deaths occurred Saturday. Most of those affected are healthcare workers in six districts of the central African nation. 

Like the better-known Ebola virus, Marburg originates in fruit bats. It spread between people through close contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces such as bed sheets. 

Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of cases, according to the AP.

Some 300 Rwandans who had contact with people confirmed to have the virus have been identified. An unspecified number have been put into isolation.

A person exposed to Marburg may develop symptoms anywhere from three days to three weeks later. Symptoms include muscle pains, fever, diarrhea, vomiting and, sometimes, extreme blood loss.

The CDC has had a presence in Rwanda since 2002. Among other things, it works with the Rwandan government to investigate disease outbreaks.

The CDC is deploying special experts to assist with ongoing probe and response to the Marburg outbreak. 

Marburg virus was first identified in 1967 after causing simultaneous disease outbreaks in laboratories in Marburg, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people exposed to the virus while conducting animal research died.

The World Health Organization said outbreaks of the disease and individual cases have previously been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about Marburg virus disease.

SOURCES: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, news release, Sept. 30, 2024; Associated Press

Source: HealthDay

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