As of Oct. 13, Rwanda has confirmed 61 cases of Marburg virus infections and 14 deaths from the rare hemorrhagic fever. On Oct. 14, the United States began screening travelers who were recently in Rwanda.
The outbreak was first reported Sept. 27, and since then, all new confirmed cases have been within a hospital cluster in Kigali, the country's capital. Patients and their contacts are under isolation and treatment, and there is no evidence of community transmission, according to Rwanda's Ministry of Health.
The disease can cause severe headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, unexplained bleeding and high fever. Symptoms can appear two to 21 days after infection, the Ministry of Health said.
Although the risk of Marburg appearing in the U.S. is low, the CDC recommends clinicians assess the possibility of the viral hemorrhagic fever in patients who present symptoms, have been in contact with an infected person or have been to an area with a current outbreak in the last 21 days.