A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighbouring Rwanda.

The WHO has reported a “high” regional and national risk from the haemorrhagic virus while the global risk remains low.

The World Health Organization says an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania.

Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people.

WHO has flagged a suspected Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in the Kagera region of the United Republic of Tanzania. The virus has reportedly killed eight among the nine persons it infected.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in north-west Tanzania, saying that at least eight people have already been killed by the disease.

So far, nine people have been infected with suspected Marburg, with samples currently in a laboratory for official confirmation. Their symptoms included headaches, high fever, back pain, vomiting blood and, in the most serious cases, bleeding from their orifices.