Rwanda Deploys Vaccine Against Deadly Marburg Virus

The Ebola-like virus has killed 12 in the central African country.

A medical worker from the Infection Prevention and Control unit wearing full protective equipment carries a meal to an isolation tent housing a man being quarantined after coming into contact in Uganda with a carrier of the Marburg virus, at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Ben Curtis/AP Photo

Rwanda has started to vaccinate health care workers against Marburg, a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.

Vaccine doses began being administered on Oct. 6 to health care workers and emergency responders at mobile clinics in the central African country, the Rwanda Ministry of Health stated.

No authorized vaccines or treatments exist for Marburg, a severe illness that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), has an average fatality rate of about 50 percent.

The U.S.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute stated that it sent about 700 investigational doses of its vaccine to Rwanda on Oct. 5 at the request of the country’s officials. The vaccinations will take place under a trial agreement with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and will target high-risk adults, primarily health care workers who have been responding to the Marburg outbreak, according to the institute and health authorities.

Rwandan officials first reported cases of Marburg in late September and said then that they were trying to determine the source of the outbreak. They have still not been able to figure out the source.

Bats and monkeys are the most common sources of the virus.

The first outbreaks took place in 1967 in Europe. African countries in recent years have dealt with Marburg cases.

Marburg spreads via direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, animals, or items like bedsheets contaminated with the fluids.

Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting and often appear from two to 21 days after infection.

The number of confirmed cases as of Oct. 6 was up to 49, an increase of three, with the number of dead holding steady at 12, according to the Rwandan Ministry of Health and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre.

Authorities have been taking steps to try to curb the spread of Marburg, including closing schools, restricting visits to hospitals, and limiting the number of people attending funerals for people killed by the illness.

The WHO is working with local authorities, officials with the United Nations have said.

Rwanda is a landlocked central African country with a population of about 13.7 million.

No confirmed cases of Marburg from the current outbreak have been reported in the United States or other countries outside Rwanda, meaning that the risk of Marburg in the United States is low, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an alert on Oct. 3.

However, doctors should be aware that travelers could come to the United States with Marburg, according to the agency.

The U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, stated in a recent alert that employees should work remotely and that all in-person services at the embassy are being suspended for the time being.