The World Health Organization's African Regional Office has confirmed an outbreak of Marburg fever in Tanzania. Laboratory tests have identified the pathogen in one patient. The outbreak, characterized by symptoms of this hemorrhagic fever, was reported in the Kagera region in the northwest of the country, bordering Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. The initial report included nine cases, eight of which were fatal (a case fatality rate of 89 percent). Specialists and mobile laboratories have been dispatched to the region.
As of January 20, 2025, the total number of suspected cases reached 25. All patients tested negative, and ongoing monitoring continues, with measures to contain the infection underway. The WHO assesses the regional risk of infection as high and the global risk as low. In December 2024, the Marburg fever outbreak in neighboring Rwanda, with 66 confirmed cases and 15 deaths, ended, prompting the world's first trials of an experimental vaccine.
