Tanzania's government said no-one in the country had tested positive for the Marburg virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least eight people in the northwest were believed to have died from it.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in north-west Tanzania, saying that at least eight people have already been killed by the disease.

Tanzania has pushed back against a report from the World Health Organization warning of a new Marburg virus outbreak in the country.

Following a World Health Organization (WHO) alert 2 days ago about a suspected Marburg virus outbreak in Tanzania, the country's health ministry said yesterday that tests on collected samples were negative for the disease. The WHO had based its alert on reliable in-country sources.

Nine cases of the deadly disease have been reported in the Kagera region of Tanzania so far. But officials expect that number to rise.

Marburg virus is a close cousin of Ebola, causing similar symptoms and spreading in the same way. It can cause death in up to 88% of infected people.

In March 2023, Tanzania reported its first Marburg virus outbreak, which also occurred in Kagera region. The outbreak was declared over in June 2023, with nine infections reported, six of them fatal. The WHO said zoonotic reservoirs of the virus, such as fruit bats, remain in the area.

Marburg virus disease, caused by a virus from the same family as Ebola, has a fatality rate of up to 88% without treatment.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighbouring Rwanda.