Rwanda launches vaccination campaign to curb Marburg virus outbreak

The government must prioritize those “most at risk” and “healthcare workers most at risk” after the deaths of 12 people.

Rwanda announced it had started administering doses of the Marburg virus vaccine to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the East African country.

“Vaccination starts today immediately,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference in the capital, Kigali, on Sunday.

The Marburg virus has killed 12 people in Rwanda since it was declared an outbreak on September 27. Authorities said at the time that the first cases had been detected among patients in health establishments. There is still no confirmation of the origin of the outbreak.

The minister said vaccinations would focus on “the most at-risk, most exposed health workers working in treatment centers, hospitals, intensive care, emergency rooms, but also close contacts of confirmed cases.”

“We believe that with vaccines we have a powerful tool to stop the spread of this virus,” the minister said. The country has already received deliveries of vaccines, notably from the Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Marburg virus has a “filamentous” structure and is transmitted by fruit bats [Shutterstock]

The government said there were 46 confirmed cases, including 29 in isolation. Health authorities have identified at least 400 people who came into contact with confirmed cases of the virus.

Like Ebola, Marburg virus is believed to originate from fruit bats and spread between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces such as contaminated linens.

Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88 percent of people with the disease.

Its symptoms include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, significant blood loss, often leading to death. There are no vaccines or approved treatments for Marburg.

Outbreaks and individual cases of Marburg have been recorded in the past in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the World Health Organization.