Rwandan health authorities will begin a vaccine study against the Marburg hemorrhagic fever as the East African country tries to stop the spread of an outbreak that has killed 12 people.

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 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.