RWANDA – Rwanda is fighting its first outbreak of the “highly virulent” Marburg virus which was first reported in late September. As of Thursday, 11 people were reported to have died of the virus in Rwanda. The health minister announced the country will begin clinical trials of experimental vaccines and treatments. Marburg is from the same family as Ebola, namely the Filoviridae family (filovirus) of viruses. It has been described as more severe than Ebola.

It causes a haemorrhagic fever, which is a type of fever that can damage the walls of blood vessels, according to information from the Mayo Clinic. Other diseases which produce this type of fever include dengue and yellow fever. According to the Mayo Clinic, a haemorrhagic fever causes internal bleeding, which can be fatal. The virus was first identified in 1967 in a town in Germany called Marburg, from which it gained its name. Simultaneously, it was identified in Belgrade, Serbia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the case fatality rate to be between 24 and 88 percent. On average, about half of all those who contract the virus die from it. After a person is exposed to the virus, it can take between two and 21 days for symptoms to show, according to the WHO. “Fatal cases usually have some form of bleeding, often from multiple areas,” the website says, adding that the onset of bleeding can occur within five to seven days.

Bleeding in vomit or faeces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums and vagina, WHO’s website says. In severe cases, death can occur eight or nine days after symptoms start to show. “Those with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to severe illness and death from this virus,” infectious disease expert Amira Roess told Al Jazeera. Roess is a global health and epidemiology professor at George Mason University’s College of Public Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Marburg virus symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, appetite loss, bleeding and gastrointestinal symptoms. Some people have contracted the Marburg virus after coming in contact with Rousettus bats, a type of fruit bat found in mines and caves, that carry the virus. The source of the Rwanda outbreak remains unclear, however. (Al Jazeera)