The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an advisory this week regarding the Marburg virus, a cousin of Ebola, alerting public health and the nursing sector in the United States to be on the lookout.
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To date, Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea have reported outbreaks of the disease on their territory. Studies to this effect indicate that these would be cases from wild animals.
Although no cases have been reported in Canada or the United States, the CDC is trying to raise awareness of this risk.
“The current risk of case discovery in the United States is low; however, clinicians and infectious disease specialists should remain alert to the possibility of imported cases,” the CDC said in a statement, as reported by FOX News.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease could turn into an epidemic, given the high mortality rate for those affected.
Of the eight cases reported in Tanzania, five people have died. This number increases to ten out of 14 cases, in Equatorial Guinea.
The first outbreak began on February 13.
If transmission is not by aerosols, it is rather through infected blood or other bodily fluids that the virus can become contagious.
Symptoms include headache, exhaustion, fever, bleeding, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Experts recommend an incubation period of 21 days.
