Dear Students, Parents and Colleagues,
cc National Committees
You may be aware from the news that an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) has been declared by the President of Tanzania and the WHO. The centre of the outbreak is in the Kagera region which is over 1000km by road from Arusha/Moshi. An outbreak was declared in the same region in March 2023 and it was quickly contained. The March 2023 outbreak resulted in six deaths. When this outbreak was declared, the school was heading into a break and our response was made with that in mind. Since on this occasion the school is in session, our response will be different.
For those not familiar with MVD, it is one of the group of hemorrhagic fevers. Unlike COVID-19 it is not an airborne virus, so transmission is not the same and in this respect it is not as easily transmissible. Instead, MVD is transmitted through body fluids which therefore requires close contact with an infected person or with the belongings of an infected person.
High persistent fever, severe headache and severe malaise are early symptoms of MVD. If your child is experiencing any of these symptoms, please seek medical attention immediately. For day students we ask that they not come to school if unwell, and residential students should report to their residence parent or school nurse. The same message has been given to school staff.
In all outbreaks of transmissible diseases, it is inevitable that there is a lag between suspicion and confirmation which could potentially lead to cases being found elsewhere in the country. Please note: that no case outside Kagera has been declared. The school has a protocol in place for how we act in the event of MVD being declared in Tanzania or the neighboring countries. We take a highly precautionary approach with one major aspect of this being the limiting of movement on and off campus.
This means that we have informed students that independent checkout off campus for our residential students and food deliveries to campus has been put on hold as we monitor the situation. We have also asked that our day students limit their off campus interactions. In addition to these measures which impact our students directly, we are also pausing the use of our campus facilities by outside groups.
We will review this position regularly and continue to communicate with you. It is possible that this position will remain for a few weeks.
At this time, school will continue as normal, as will internal campus activities. Off campus events will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, service groups have been asked to look at how they can continue service internally. As the situation in Tanzania develops, we will review and modify our response as required.
We will be holding an online meeting tomorrow for any parents or member of national committees who would like to join. At this meeting, you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. The meeting will be at 3.30 pm East African Time, and the Zoom link can be found here.
I am fully aware that this response may feel too restrictive to some. My responsibility is to all members of our community and to honor the trust placed in me and the school to look after our students and staff. If with hindsight I am accused of over reaction, I can live with that.
Kind regards,
Anna Marsden
Director
