(Machine Translated) An as yet unidentified disease killed three people in three days in the commune of Gitobe in the province of Kirundo and in the commune of Butihinda in the province of Muyinga (north-eastern Burundi). Symptoms developed by patients suffering from this disease resemble those of Ebola hemorrhagic virus or Marburg virus disease. In the case of Kirundo, the governor and the provincial doctor are waiting for the results of samples taken by specialists from the INSP (National Institute of Public Health) to decide. The ministry in charge of health has already confirmed for that of Muyinga that it is neither the Marburg virus disease nor Ebola.
This disease, not yet identified but having signs similar to those of Ebola, has just claimed the lives of two people in the commune of Gitobe. Both people died within 24 hours of showing the signs. All the patients come from the same Migwa hill, in the Baziro area.
According to witnesses on the spot, “the symptoms include abdominal pain, nasal bleeding which increases after death, acute headaches, high fever, vomiting and dizziness”.
This disease kills very quickly, noted a nurse interviewed by SOS Media Burundi.
“It’s a disease that kills quickly. Within 24 hours, the infected person dies. It’s terrible, we are all waiting for death,” said a panicked nurse from the Migwa health center in the Gashoho health district in Muyinga province where patients were sent, including two women who died there. .
When the population of Baziro wanted to bring the third person there, the population of Migwa blocked the entrances, fearing the spread of the disease.
For the moment no one can leave the area of Baziro which, it seems, has been confined.
Samples were taken by the INSP to identify which disease it is.
But until now the disease is not yet detected, according to doctors.
In the morning of Friday, the governor of Kirundo, Albert Hatungimana, accompanied by the provincial doctor, carried out a raid in the commune of Gitobe, but they made no forecast.
“We are awaiting the results of the swabs,” a member of the governor’s cabinet said.
The population is worried because, she says, “So far no real prevention strategy against this disease has been communicated”.
“Apart from washing your hands and avoiding greeting each other, there are no strict measures, which can promote contamination,” residents insisted.
Note that at Kirundo hospital, the first case was also admitted on Friday evening. In the commune of Ntega (same province), people with the same symptoms were reported on the same Friday evening.
The population of the urban center of Kirundo lives in panic fear. She asks the government to declare the epidemic so that there is a rapid intervention.
Another case was recorded in Giteranyi commune, Muyinga province (neighboring Kirundo). A student from the Kobero Basic School not far from the border with Tanzania died of this disease last Thursday.
Tanzania declared a Marburg virus epidemic on March 21. A cousin of Ebola, this “filovirus” causes high fevers accompanied by virulent haemorrhages. So far, there is no vaccine or antiviral treatment for this disease, which can also attack primates. It is suspected that it is the Marburg virus which has spread in the Burundian provinces bordering Tanzania, the epidemic having been detected in the Kagera region in the north-west of Tanzania not far from Burundi and Rwanda .