Rwanda is to begin clinical trials of a vaccine to treat Marburg virus disease in the coming weeks, the country’s health minister announced today, as the country grapples with the first outbreak of the disease that has killed 11 people.
The disease first appeared at the end of September and so far 36 cases have been reported, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
“This is part of our efforts to help people recover quickly by using vaccines and drugs specially developed to fight this outbreak, trials that are currently in the final stage of research. We are working with the pharmaceutical companies that have also prepared. with the World Health Organization (WHO) to speed up the process through multilateral cooperation,” Health Minister Sabine Nzanzimana told Reuters.
As he explained, the government is talking to companies based in the United States and Europe.
The ministry is monitoring 410 people who have been in contact with those who are infected, Deputy Health Minister Ivan Butera said earlier.
Another five people tested negative but are awaiting the results of further tests.
Viral hemorrhagic fever Marburg has symptoms such as high fever, severe headache and malaise, which usually appear within seven days of infection, according to the WHO.
The death rate from infection with the virus is 88%. Marburg belongs to the same family of viruses responsible for Ebola and is transmitted to humans by a species of bat. It can then be transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
There were cases of Marburg in 2023 in neighboring Tanzania and Uganda in 2017.
Meanwhile, in Germany, two people who returned from Rwanda are undergoing medical tests today because one of them is feared to have contracted the virus, Hamburg health authorities said.
Yesterday, the two were placed in isolation in a department that focuses on highly contagious infectious diseases at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, the city’s health services said.
According to the same source, “one of the two worked in a hospital in Rwanda as part of his medical school studies” where patients infected with the Marburg virus were treated.
Returning from Rwanda yesterday, they took a train together from Frankfurt to Hamburg and during the trip one of them “who feared he had a tropical disease in Rwanda” contacted doctors.
According to German media, he is a medical student in his 20s who developed flu-like symptoms and reportedly felt slightly nauseous.
When they arrived at Hamburg station, health teams were waiting for the two travelers who were immediately isolated and taken to the university hospital.
Contact details of train passengers who may have been in contact with them have been recorded and details of passengers on the flight from Rwanda will be available if required. There is no need for quarantine measures at the moment, the Hamburg authorities add.
SOURCE RES