WHO warns over spread of Marburg virus after Tanzania deaths

The World Health Organization has urged African health authorities to step up monitoring and clinical care after Tanzania reported its first outbreak of the virulent Marburg virus.

Marburg spreads to humans from fruit bats and is passed on through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected patients. The disease is highly virulent, causing haemorrhagic fever and killing up to 88 per cent of those it infects. It belongs to the same family of viruses as Ebola, another deadly disease whose most severe outbreak occurred in several west African countries from 2013-16.