Kigali —
Rwanda announced on Sunday that it has started administering a vaccine against the Marburg virus to fight an outbreak of Ebola-like diseases in the East African country that has so far killed 12 people.
“Vaccination will begin immediately today,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a press conference in the capital, Kigali.
He said vaccinations will focus on “the highest-risk and most exposed health care workers working in treatment centers, hospitals, intensive care units and emergency settings, as well as close contacts of confirmed cases.” .
The country has already received shipments of vaccines from companies including the Sabin Vaccine Institute.
Rwanda’s first outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever was confirmed in late September, and since then 46 cases and 12 deaths have been reported. The case fatality rate in Marburg is as high as 88%.
Symptoms in Marburg include high fever, severe headache, and fatigue within seven days of infection, followed by severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
It is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spread by contact with the body fluids of an infected person. Neighboring Uganda has experienced several outbreaks of infectious diseases in the past.
“We believe that vaccines provide us with a powerful tool to stop the spread of this virus,” the minister said.
