KAMPALA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health is investigating a suspected outbreak of the deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever in the eastern district of Kween, a ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.
Vivian Nakaliika, the ministry of health spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone that a team has been dispatched to Kween to investigate the suspected outbreak of Marburg following two index cases that reportedly died of the disease.
"We are investigating the possible outbreak of Marburg in Kween. A team has been dispatched to collect samples and monitor the suspected cases," said Nakaliika.
She said the ministry will on Thursday issue an official statement about the suspected outbreak.
An outbreak of Marburg was last reported in central and western parts of the east African country in 2014.
Marburg is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization.
According to the global health body, the illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with severe headache and malaise.
Case fatality rates have varied greatly, from 25 percent in the initial laboratory-associated outbreak in 1967, to more than 80 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998-2000, to even higher in the outbreak that began in Angola in late 2004.
