There are no approved treatments for the Ebola-like haemorrhagic fever, which is spreading in Rwanda.

Researchers are in a race against time to deploy vaccines and treatments against a deadly virus that has exploded in Rwanda.

As of 30 September, the central African country has recorded 27 cases and 9 deaths caused by Marburg virus, a highly deadly relative of Ebola virus that also causes haemorrhagic fever, with most cases occurring among health-care workers in the country’s capital Kigali.

There are no approved therapies or vaccines against Marburg virus. But if the current outbreak continues — most are small and quickly contained — health officials and researchers hope to gather valuable data on the safety and potential effectiveness of vaccines and treatments.

On 30 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted a teleconference involving Rwandan scientists appointed by the government to run potential trials of vaccines and treatments and members of the Marburg virus vaccine consortium (MARVAC), a group of companies, non-profit organizations and researchers, according to a WHO spokesperson.