Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan confirmed on Monday that a sample from northern Tanzania tested positive for Marburg disease, a highly contagious virus with a fatality rate of up to 88% if untreated.

President Hassan made the announcement in the capital, Dodoma, during a joint briefing with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO had earlier reported a suspected Marburg outbreak in Tanzania’s Kagera region on January 14, linking it to eight deaths. However, Tanzanian health authorities had initially dismissed the claim, stating that tests conducted on samples yielded negative results.

Hassan clarified that while one sample tested positive for the virus, 25 other samples returned negative.

Bird flu found in a Georgia commercial flock for the 1st time amid the nationwide outbreak

Marburg, which is closely related to Ebola, is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and spreads through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals or contaminated surfaces like soiled bedsheets.

Common symptoms of the virus include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and, in severe cases, death due to significant blood loss. There is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the disease.

This marks the second Marburg outbreak in Kagera since 2023. The latest case comes just a month after neighboring Rwanda declared the end of its own Marburg outbreak.

Rwanda reported 66 infections and 15 deaths in its outbreak, which was first detected on September 27. Many of the affected were healthcare workers who attended to the initial cases.