Tanzania today declared the end of the Marburg virus disease outbreak after not recording new cases for 42 days since the death of its last confirmed case on January 28, 2025.
The incident in which two possible confirmed cases were recorded (all of which died), was the second outbreak experienced by the state. The outbreak was declared on January 20, 2025, and in 2023 it occurred in the northeastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, will establish coordination and response systems at the national and local level, rapidly detect cases, strengthen clinical care, infection prevention, strengthen cooperation with the community, raise awareness and help further spread the virus.
The growing expertise in public health emergency response in Africa is important in obtaining effective outbreak management measures. Using experience from the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, we worked closely with Tanzania’s health authorities to quickly expand important measures such as disease surveillance and train more than 1,000 frontline health workers in contact, clinical care and public health risk communications. The organization also provided over 5 tons of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline healthcare workers and the efforts of our national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr. Charles Sagoe Mohs, president of Tanzania. “Even though an outbreak has been declared, we are still wary of responding promptly if a lawsuit is detected and supporting our continued efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
As the outbreak response is gaining momentum in the acute phase, measures are being taken to strengthen the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners source additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and monitoring and other important services.
Malburg virus disease is extremely toxic and causes bleeding fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. The disease caused by the Marburg virus begins suddenly. The patient presents with a high fever, severe headache, and severe mal lazyness. They can develop severe bleeding symptoms within 7 days.
Previous outbreaks and sporadic incidents have been reported in Angola, the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
