Afrigather Kigali – Rwanda has discharged the final Marburg virus illness affected person, kicking off the necessary 42-day countdown to declare the top of the outbreak. The nation has reported no new confirmed instances since 30 October 2024.
The final affected person was discharged on 8 November 2024. Contacts of the final affected person, together with these of beforehand discharged sufferers, will proceed to be adopted up till the top of their 21-day statement interval. The outbreak can solely be declared over if no new infections come up 42 days after the final confirmed case assessments unfavourable.
Regardless of no new instances being reported for over per week, well being authorities stay vigilant. Throughout this era of enhanced surveillance, the Ministry of Well being will intensify efforts, leveraging the nation’s intensive community of just about 60 000 neighborhood well being employees to conduct energetic case discovering and take a look at any suspected instances, guaranteeing that no chain of transmission has been missed.
Thus far, a complete of 66 instances and 15 deaths have been recorded in the course of the outbreak, which was declared on 27 September. Well being employees, who represent virtually 80% of the instances, had been primarily turning into contaminated whereas offering emergency care to their colleagues and sufferers.
Although the outbreak initially unfold rapidly within the nation’s two main hospitals in Kigali and among the many household of one of many first instances, the speedy, strong response resulted in no neighborhood transmission so far.
Nationwide well being authorities, supported by World Well being Group (WHO) and companions, instantly activated the outbreak response to halt additional unfold and save lives. The speedy deployment of speedy response groups, shut monitoring of contacts, and implementation of an infection prevention and management measures considerably lowered confirmed case numbers, which had been halved between weeks two and three, and decreased by round 90% thereafter.
“This outbreak demonstrates that with the very best obtainable therapy, restoration is feasible, and contributions to science may be made,” stated Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Well being. “The proof generated from this outbreak goes to assist form surveillance actions going ahead and stop future outbreaks.”
Marburg is a extremely virulent virus inflicting haemorrhagic fever, with a fatality ratio of as much as 88%. The virus belongs to the identical household because the Ebola virus. Sickness begins abruptly with excessive fever, extreme headache, and malaise, and plenty of sufferers develop extreme haemorrhagic signs inside seven days.
The virus is transmitted to individuals from fruit bats and spreads via direct contact with the bodily fluids of contaminated individuals, surfaces, and supplies. Supportive care, together with rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids and therapy of particular signs, improves survival charges.
“Due to the concerted efforts of all concerned, Rwanda is efficiently rising from a extremely difficult outbreak, successfully mitigating its doubtlessly devastating impacts. I commend the Authorities of Rwanda for the numerous progress achieved. WHO stays dedicated to supporting these ongoing collaborative efforts till the outbreak is formally declared over,” stated Dr Brian Chirombo, WHO Consultant in Rwanda.
