Six people have died from an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda

The country’s health minister, Sabin Nsanzimana said most of the victims were healthcare workers in a hospital intensive care unit in the capital, Kigali.

Marburg, with a fatality rate of up to 88%, is from the same virus family as Ebola, and is spread to humans from fruit bats and then through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals.

Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss.

There are no specific treatments or a vaccine for the virus but a range of blood products, drug and immune therapies are being developed, according to the World Health Organization.

This is the first time Marburg has been confirmed in Rwanda. Neighbouring Tanzania reported an outbreak in 2023, while three people died in Uganda in 2017.

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