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A few days ago, information circulated around the world about the detection of an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Africa. After the death of the infected man, 155 people were placed in quarantine. The Marburg virus spread terror many years ago, and it was first detected in the territory of the former West Germany.
- Marburg virus causes one of the worst zoonoses. It has a high mortality rate, and there is no cure or vaccine for it
- The first cases of infection were detected in employees of a laboratory that carried out autopsies of Ugandan vervets
- Some of the infected developed a hemorrhagic fever followed by death
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage.
The history of the Marburg virus. Where did it come from?
In early August 1967, 30 people contracted a mysterious disease in Marburg and Frankfurt. Soon after, another two cases of the same disease were also found in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
Doctors knew that they were dealing with an infectious disease, but they did not know its cause. Initially, the patients were treated at home. Only when the first patients’ health deteriorated radically within a maximum of 10 days, hospitalization was decided.
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A later investigation found that all patients had one thing in common – they were employed in companies where vaccine research was taking place. In the case of Marburg patients it was Behrindwerke, producing sera and vaccines. The patients from Frankfurt worked at the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which was responsible for the control of such preparations. As for the Belgrade patients, they participated in the process of testing live vaccines.
So it was known that serious ailments must be related to this type of preparations. This, however, did not explain why similar symptoms were not seen in employees of other companies producing or testing vaccines around the world. It turned out, however, that all sick workers came into contact with the blood and internal organs of green monkeys from Uganda. This clue allowed us to establish that monkeys shipped in the same shipment ended up in all three laboratories. They all turned out to be infected with a pathogen that was later named the Marburg virus.
Seven people died as a result of infection with the virus in 1967.
The Marburg virus attacked several more times. The most recent case is from 2021.
In the course of subsequent studies, it was possible to establish that although people were infected with the virus from monkeys, its reservoirs are Nile owls – bats commonly found in Africa. In flying mammals, Marburg may not cause any disease symptoms, but for primates, including humans, it is deadly. Especially since so far no effective method of treating the infection has been developed, nor has a vaccine that would protect oneself against the virus.
The infection occurs through contact with an infected animal, but also a person. The virus is transmitted through body fluids, which means that you can also catch it by touching surfaces that have previously been touched by an infected person. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infection can occur even during the funeral of a person who died by the Marburg virus.
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After the first virus outbreak in 1967, it is time for more. New outbreaks of infections were also noted in the following years, incl. in Kenya, the United States and the Netherlands. The worst situation happened in 2005 in Angola, where 374 people became infected, 329 of whom died. A few days ago, we learned about a new case of the Marburg virus in Guinea. The infected man died and 155 people who had contact with him were quarantined.
In the case of the Marburg virus, it is difficult to clearly define its mortality, because it differs depending on the variant of the virus, but also on what help will be given to the patient. First of all, the sooner he is diagnosed, the greater his chances of survival. It is estimated that the mortality rate ranges from 24 to 88 percent.
What are the symptoms of Marburg virus?
The Marburg virus causes Ebola-like symptoms. Its incubation period is from 2 to 21 days. After this time, the infected person develops a high fever, persistent headache, muscle pain and a very general malaise. After about three days, watery diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain may appear. At this stage, the sick, as WHO writes, look “like ghosts”. Their skin is pale, with expressionless faces and sunken eyes. They are also very lethargic.
Between the fifth and seventh day, patients may develop hemorrhagic fever. It manifests itself with various types of hemorrhages – from the nose, gums, but also from the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract (bloody vomiting and blood in the faeces). Haemorrhagic fever is closely related to increased mortality in patients. If it occurs, the patient usually dies between the eighth and ninth day.
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