The U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said it was in conversation with Rwandan health officials amid an outbreak of Marburg virus.

Rwanda has reported nine deaths from its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak and confirmed 18 patients are in isolation, according to its health ministry.

For the first time in Rwanda’s history, its health ministry is dealing with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccines for Marburg,

The deadly Marburg virus is believed to originate in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact.

Marburg virus particles (blue) on the surface of an infected cultured cell (red). Credit: NIAID/Science Photo Library. Researchers are in a race against time to deploy vaccines an

Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals. Rwanda, a landlocked country in central Africa,

Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment.

Six people have died from an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda, the health minister has announced. Sabin Nsanzimana said most of the victims were healthcare workers in a hospital intensive care unit.

Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.