Marburg fever kills four in Uganda: ministry
An outbreak of Marburg haemorrhagic fever in a remote region in western Uganda has so far killed four people, the health ministry said in a statement.
"Preliminary reports from Kabale district indicate that four people had allegedly died of a strange disease since October 4th. This strange disease has now been confirmed as Marburg," a senior ministry official Jane Ruth Aceng said in a statement.
"This follows laboratory tests done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute," she added.
Marburg is caused by a virus and spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
Uganda's last outbreak of Marburg in 2007 killed two people. A different type of haemorrhagic fever, Ebola, killed 17 people in Uganda between July and early October.
(c) 2012 AFP
