ARUSHA, Tanzania — On Monday, Tanzania’s president announced that a sample collected from a remote area in northern Tanzania has tested positive for the Marburg virus, a highly contagious pathogen known for its potential to be fatal in up to 88% of untreated cases.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan made this statement during a press conference held in Dodoma, the nation’s capital, where she was joined by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO had initially highlighted a suspected outbreak of Marburg on January 14, following reports of eight fatalities in the Kagera region of Tanzania. However, Tanzanian health authorities contested these findings just hours later, asserting that tests on collected samples had returned negative results.

Hassan confirmed on Monday that follow-up testing had definitively identified a case of Marburg, while noting that 25 additional samples were negative.

Similar to the Ebola virus, Marburg is disseminated through fruit bats and can spread among humans through close contact with bodily fluids from infected individuals or surfaces like tainted bedding.

Symptoms associated with the virus include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, and vomiting, with severe cases potentially leading to death due to excessive blood loss. Currently, no approved vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Marburg virus.

This situation marks the second instance of a Marburg outbreak in Kagera during the year 2023, occurring precisely a month after Rwanda, which shares a border with Kagera, announced the conclusion of its own outbreak of the disease.

During Rwanda’s outbreak, officials recorded 15 fatalities and 66 confirmed cases, with a significant portion of the individuals impacted being healthcare workers who treated the initial patients.

Overall, these developments underscore the persistent risks posed by the Marburg virus and highlight the ongoing public health challenges in the region.