Marburg virus is named after the town in Germany where it first emerged. In 1967, there were simultaneous outbreaks at laboratories in Marburg and Belgrade in Serbia (then part of Yugoslavia). The outbreak was caused by African green monkeys imported from Uganda for use in experiments. Seven people died.

Rwanda has said it will begin vaccine trials for the fatal Marburg virus, which has already killed at least 12 people in the country - most of them health workers. The east African country has received 700 doses of the vaccine from the Sabin Vaccine Institute,

Marburg has caused small, episodic outbreaks since first being identified, most recently last year in Tanzania and Ghana. It is one of the deadliest known viruses, with no approved vaccines or specific treatments.

There are no treatments or vaccines approved for Marburg, a virus in the same family as Ebola with a fatality rate between 24% to 88%.

Rwanda declared an outbreak of the highly contagious Marburg virus​, a deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment.

In Rwanda, 11 deaths have been reported from this rare but deadly disease. Two people tested negative in Germany this week.

WHO has said the risk of the outbreak is “very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level.” Marburg virus disease is highly contagious and can cause haemorrhagic fever with a fatality ratio of up to 88 per cent. There is currently no vaccine or specific treatment.

Eleven people have died in Rwanda as the African country continues to fight an outbreak of Marburg virus. The Rwandan government said there were 36 confirmed cases of the virus in its latest update, with 25 people in isolation.

The East African country continues to investigate the source of the outbreak, first traced among patients in health facilities.