Ethiopia has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in the south of the country, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.

Axar.az, citing The Guardian, reports that the Marburg virus is one of the deadliest known pathogens. Like Ebola, it causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea, and has a 21-day incubation period.

Also like Ebola, it is transmitted via contact with body fluids and has a fatality rate of between 25% and 80%.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Ethiopia’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed on Friday that at least nine cases had been detected in southern Ethiopia, two days after Africa CDC was alerted to a suspected haemorrhagic virus in the region.