The World Health Organization says an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania

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.

Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people.

GENEVA: Cautioning about the high risk of deadly Marburg Virus Disease’s further spread in Tanzania, the World Health Organisation on Tuesday said the suspected virus outbreak had

The World Health Organisation has put Kenya and five other countries on high alert over Marburg disease after the death of Eight people in the Kagera region, in Tanzania. In a statement on January 15, the WHO issued the alert in neighbouring countries including; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique.

So far, nine people have been infected with suspected Marburg, with samples currently in a laboratory for official confirmation. Their symptoms included headaches, high fever, back pain, vomiting blood and, in the most serious cases, bleeding from their orifices.

The deadly Marburg Virus Disease is suspected to have infected as many as nine people — including eight fatally — in Tanzania’s Kagera region, the World Health Organization said.