Rwanda to kick off vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials for Marbug disease in several weeks

Rwanda's health minister has announced that the country will kick off vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials to treat Marbug disease in the coming weeks, as the country does what it can to contain its first outbreak of the viral fever.

''We are collaborating with the pharmaceutical companies that developed these, alongside the World Health Organisation', the minister, Sabin Nsanzimana, said.

Belonging to the same virus family as that which causes ebola, Marbug virus has a high fatality rate of up to 88%. It is passed from fruit bats to humans, before being transmitted through contact with bodily fluids of those infected.

The disease was first detected in the country last month, with dozens of cases recorded so far. It has already claimed several lives, and authorities are monitoring hundreds of people who have been in contact with those infected .

Across the border, Tanzania had cases of the viral fever last year.