Tanzania government is notorious for covering up contagious ailments to assault the country. It is always a case of suppression of information which end up with half admissions and half retractions.
There is a missive being circulated in the social media platforms indicating the government was not truthful about malburg in Biharamulo, Kagera region.
I could not independently verify the truth in the claims cited in the chain letter.
Nor are the author reveals his identity which makes it impossible to take it for its value.
However, it is understandable that this writer may still be telling the truth but fears retaliation for contradicting the government official position.
This article has no intention of avouching the letter but recap it and dissect its content for the purposes and intents of understanding the issues behind prevention of the spread of contagious illness such as marburg.
What the chain letter claims really happened.
In mid December 2024, one pregnant woman went to a health centre with symptoms of marburg.
The woman went to labour and she delivered a premature baby.
Both the woman and her child died. After a few days, a nurse who had delivered a baby of a deceased woman became very sick.
The nurse attempted to treat herself at home as she suspected it was malaria bout gone really bad.
However, her situation grew worse and worse and her loved ones decided to take her to Biharamulo referral hospital where after examining her case she was referred to Bugando referral Hospital in Mwanza.
At Bugando referral hospital that nurse was dissatisfied with the healthcare services she was getting there so she taken to a private hospital called Kamanga Hospital.
She succumbed to her mysterious illness there, and died. It is unclear from this chain letter how many days had elapsed that information could have been helpful to estimate the incubation period of the deadly contagion.
The deceased’s remains were taken back to Bugando referral hospital where it was discovered that one of her liver was rotten.
It happened that the family of the deceased nurse had many medical professionals who became curious that how a professional nurse would be in the dark over what she was suffering until she died of renal damage.
Her relatives were bamboozled how in a few days she would die from the mysterious illness?
Then they were in one accord that it was important a post mortem was conducted to determine the real cause of her death.
They went to Kagera RMO (Regional Medical Doctor) urging him or her that samples from her remains be taken for further medical laboratory investigation.
The laboratory findings confirmed indeed she was a victim of marburg disease.
She is the only person whom the government has acknowledged, at a time I was penning down this article, has died of marburg.
Thereafter 8 people died in Biharamulo with all showing symptoms of marburg. The government is yet to acknowledge their deaths as having been ensued from marburg!
Relatives and those who were believed to have interacted with the 8 dead were quietly quarantined to prevent further contamination.
However, relatives of those who were quarantined noted poor services were availed to their loved ones, in particular, food.
WHO and NGOs took matters into their own hands and confirmed there was indeed marburg in Biharamulo, Tanzania.
They also began offering quality services to those under quarantine.
Some who heard the WHO marburg report believed it while others dismissed it as conspiracy theory to tarnish Tanzania’s good image abroad!
On 20th January 2025, Tanzania government came out to confirm indeed there was marburg in Biharamulo Tanzania, and one person has died from it.
That was more than a month since the first death had occurred!
The writer began asking some serious questions about how the government has addressed the issues at hand.
First, without the relatives of the deceased nurse to pressure the Kagera RMO to find the truth about the mysterious illness, would the facts came out as they did? Would that nurse have been reported to have died of marburg?
Second, is the government official report of only one person had died of marburg behind a mini reshuffle in the ministry of health?
Why has the government seen it wise to obfuscate the facts and endanger the lives of many unsuspecting people for almost a month?
It is true that the mention of a killer disease such as marburg may disconcert the populace but knowing the facts beforehand is of more benefit than keeping the full story away from the people.
The writer thanked the government for at least conceding one death was caused by marburg but its incubation period is not officially stated.
The government is quicker to calm the population by saying marburg has now been contained and that it is no longer posing a threat to people.
The scribe asked whether the government was suppressing the information to save the “energy conference” that was to be conducted in Tanzania?
The writer wanted to know why when pandemics which shakes the nation ends up with dismissals of senior health officials from their positions? He ends by forewarning conspiracy theories aside that the government approach in dealing with pandemics is wrong and dangerous.
My take
As much as there are many unsubstantiated details in his letter but the level of details ought to lend it with some level of credibility.
True, he did not attach his name possibly for fear of reprisals, and we know those in the government can be very revengeful against those who divulge their well hidden secrets.
This is why principal government officials take secrecy oaths that are purposed to hide the truth from the general public.
We really need all government laboratories across the country to have the capacity to test contagious illness such as marburg, monkeypox among others.
The life of this nurse and possibly those additional eight deaths, if any, could have been saved with earlier diagnosis amd treatment.
Earlier diagnosis leads to early treatment, and curfews stops the spread of the disease.
This nurse was moved into many hospitals and it’s possible that many people were infected with the deadly bug even if they are asymptotic for now.
This is why the question of incubation period needs to be addressed now and the sensitization campaign has to be more aggressive than it has been done to date.
The ministry of health need to buy more airtime amd space in all major media stations and houses to sensitize the general public of the symptoms of this disease.
A few catalogues now being circulated amd shared in the social media platforms are insufficient because we learn more easily through video and audio messaging than pictorial information.
Many people find reading the digital booklets on the marburg too laborious; they tend to skip them altogether or flipping through them in a hurry and miss the real meat and bones of the information.
It is also true that the habit of blame game ought to come to an end.
I normally tease those who blame others when things go wrong: Where were they to fix the situation?
Reminding them, are we not all wise afterwards? True, this story whether true or not has revealed flaws in our preparedness to deal with pandemics.
The culture ought to change fast. We need to be more transparent, forthcoming with the truth rather burying it under the wraps.
That way we save lives rather than compounding the situation with opaque and misinformation.
Read more about Vaccination Controversies in the US: What It Means for Tanzania’s Health Future
Interesting