US ships Marburg vaccines to Rwanda after 11 die in outbreak

6/10/2024 7:20

        The United States government completed an initial shipment of vaccine doses and therapeutic drugs for Marburg disease to Rwanda on Oct. 4, Thierry Roels,
        U.S. CDC Country Director in Rwanda told Reuters on Saturday.
        
        The U.S. government is also working closely with international partners and Rwanda's ministry of health on the start of clinical trials to evaluate investigational
        countermeasures, he said.
        
        Roels added that the U.S. government was considering additional shipments that can supply the clinical trials, but did not say how many doses had been delivered on Friday.
        
        Rwanda's first outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever was detected in late September, with 36 cases and 11 deaths reported so far. Marburg has a fatality rate as high as 88%.
        
        Rwandan Health Minister Sabin Nsanziman said on Thursday that the country will start clinical trials of experimental vaccines and treatments for the disease.