Four people have been hospitalized in a north Tanzanian hospital for fear of having contracted the Rift Valley Fever disease, according to reports on Saturday.

Local English newspaper Daily News quoted Arusha Regional Medical Officer Naftari King'ori as confirming that the four people had been admitted into the Mount Meru Hospital, where the country's first two victims of the disease died on Jan. 31.

Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward Lowassa called on local government officials to coordinate efforts to contain the spread of the disease.

He told lawmakers on Friday in Dodoma that the government had already ordered vaccines and would soon start vaccinating livestock in the country that has a cattle population of 18.5 million.

Tanzania has already banned livestock movement to and from neighboring Kenya and started scrutinizing all livestock meant for human consumption after the disease had killed two local residents and a Kenyan visiting northern Tanzania.

In 1998, the Rift Valley Fever broke out in Arusha following a similar outbreak in Kenya and the disease killed at least 10 people between January and March that year.

The Rift Valley Fever is a viral disease that affects mainly animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats. But it can also affect humans.

The disease is most common during years of heavy rainfalls.

Source: Xinhua