According to Africa’s top health official Jean Kaseya, official US advice against non-essential travel to Rwanda in light of the deadly Marburg virus outbreak is “not fair.”
It was also “not the treatment Rwanda and Africa deserve,” according to the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
According to a statement issued by the health minister of Rwanda, the disease has resulted in the deaths of 13 people in just two weeks, the majority of whom were healthcare workers.
However, the authorities claim that the outbreak is under control.
However, those who must deal with its consequences first remain anxious.
Maria, who is not her real name but works as an intensive care nurse at a hospital in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, stated, “What scares you the most [is] when you see people of the same profession] dying.”
Maria spoke to the BBC under oath because she was afraid that if she spoke out in public, she would lose her job.
The nurse and mother, who is 46 years old, stated, “I can’t stop telling myself that I might be the next, that maybe I am positive but without symptoms yet.”
How dangerous is the Marburg virus, and what is it?
PODCAST: How is the Marburg virus outbreak being managed in Rwanda?
She told the BBC that a number of her coworkers were ill and being treated separately, and that more than one of them had already passed away from the virus. She talked about how much stress the facility staff had to deal with every day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that half of patients infected with the Marburg virus will pass away on average. The virus is carried by fruit bats, and contact with infected bodily fluids like sweat, urine, and blood allows it to spread from one person to another.
