The Malawi government says it is on high alert in light of the Marburg virus outbreak in Tanzania’s North-West Kagera region.

Principal Secretary for Health, Charles Mwansambo, said they are monitoring the situation.

“The virus has been recorded between the border with Uganda,” Mwansambo said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, has said efforts by Tanzania’s health authorities to establish the cause of the disease signifies the determination to effectively respond to the outbreak.

According WHO, five people have died from the Marburg virus disease and a total of 161 contacts have been identified and are being monitored.

Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people and non-human primates. MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (or, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family.

The six species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.

(Reported by Rebecca Chimjeka, Times Online

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