First trial vaccinations started in Rwanda

There was recently a suspected case of the Marburg virus in Hamburg. Rwanda is currently battling an outbreak. The first trial vaccinations are now available.

Trial vaccinations against the Marburg virus began in Rwanda on Sunday following a recent outbreak. An initial batch of 700 doses has been targeted to healthcare workers who are on the front lines in the fight against the virus, the East African country’s health minister, Sabin Nsanzimana, said at a news conference.

The U.S.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute says it has reached an agreement with Rwanda’s biomedical center to provide the doses as part of a phase 2 trial. They are to be distributed to six clinic locations. There is currently no approved vaccine against the virus. The single-dose vaccine developed by Sabin is currently undergoing Phase 2 testing in Uganda and Kenya and no safety concerns have been reported there.

Rwanda reported an outbreak of Marburg fever on September 27th. According to the institute’s announcement, 46 people were infected by Saturday, 12 stars. The mortality rate for this disease is reported to be up to around 90 percent. The pathogen is named after the Hessian city of Marburg because laboratory workers there were infected with the previously unknown virus in test monkeys in 1967. At that time, a total of 29 people were infected, seven of whom died. The only cases remained in Germany.

The previous week, a man and a woman in Hamburg were tested for the Marburg virus after they returned from Rwanda and the man showed flu-like symptoms. The test was negative. The Marburg virus can cause high fever and symptoms such as muscle pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and bloody vomit.