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.

A new vaccine trial is under way in Rwanda as the country fights an outbreak of the highly deadly Marburg virus.

So far, the Marburg virus has killed 12 people in Rwanda since it was declared an outbreak on September 27. Talking about the source of this outbreak, authorities said that there is still no confirmation of the source of the outbreak.

The risk of catching Marburg virus is described as “extremely low” by the NHS. Symptoms can typically take three to 10 days to materialise, but in some patients can take up to 21 days from the date of exposure. According to GOV.UK, they can come on suddenly and include:

The country has already received shipments of the vaccines including from the Sabin Vaccine Institute. Rwanda's first outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever was detected in late September, with 46 cases and 12 deaths reported since then. Marburg has a fatality rate as high as 88 per cent.

Rwanda begins vaccine trials amid fears of outbreak of deadly disease - Virus kills around half of people it infects

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, a US-based non-profit organisation.

The Marburg virus disease, which is similar to Ebola, has killed hundreds of people in recent years, mostly in African nations. It is fatal for about half the people it infects according to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).