The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a suspected outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of northwestern Tanzania, with nine people reportedly infected, of whom eight have died.

Nine cases of the deadly disease have been reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania so far. But officials expect that number to rise.

Tanzanian authorities deny Marburg virus presence after WHO reports deaths, with laboratory tests returning negative.

Marburg virus is a close cousin of Ebola, causing similar symptoms and spreading in the same way. It can cause death in up to 88% of infected people.

Tanzania has pushed back against a report from the World Health Organization warning of a new Marburg virus outbreak in the country.

In March 2023, Tanzania reported its first Marburg virus outbreak, which also occurred in Kagera region. The outbreak was declared over in June 2023, with nine infections reported, six of them fatal. The WHO said zoonotic reservoirs of the virus, such as fruit bats, remain in the area.

Marburg virus disease, caused by a virus from the same family as Ebola, has a fatality rate of up to 88% without treatment.

The World Health Organization says an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania

A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighbouring Rwanda.