MARBURG VIRUS

1. Context

2. About Marburg Virus

• The Marburg virus is part of the so-called filovirus family that also includes the Ebola virus, which has wreaked havoc in several previous outbreaks on the African continent.
  It is a highly dangerous pathogen that causes severe fever that often includes bleeding.
• The virus frequently targets several organs and reduces the body’s ability to function on its own.
• There are no authorized vaccines or drugs to treat Marburg, but rehydration treatment to alleviate symptoms can improve the chances of survival.
• Depending on the strain and case management, the fatality rates for the virus range from 24% to 88%.
• During an outbreak in Angola in 2004, the virus killed 90% of the 252 people who were infected. In Ghana last year, two people died of Marburg.

3. Why it is called Marburg Virus?

• The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia.
• Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys.
• The natural carrier of the Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, which carries the virus but does not fall sick from it.
  But the animals can pass the virus to primates in close proximity, including humans.
• Human-to-human transmission then occurs through contact with blood or other bodily fluids.

4. What is known about the outbreak so far?

• According to the WHO, so far nine deaths and 16 suspected cases have been reported. Symptoms so far have included fever, fatigue, as well as blood-stained vomit and diarrhea.
• The government of Equatorial Guinea announced last week that it was investigating the cause of several suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever, but said only three people had shown light symptoms.
• The affected area was located in a rural eastern region of dense forest near the borders of Gabon and Cameroon.

For Prelims