An experimental vaccine against the Marburg outbreak has arrived in Rwanda

An experimental vaccine against the deadly Marburg virus has arrived in Rwanda. Although there is no approved vaccine against the disease yet, first responders are being vaccinated with this drug in the hope that it will prevent the spread of the disease.

At the end of last month Rwanda mentioned facing an outbreak of Marburg, a virus similar to the related Ebola virus. There have been 46 infections since then confirmedtwelve people have died from the disease so far. A total of 1,748 people were tested to see if they have the virus.

Marburg patients must be dealt with first with high fever, nausea and muscle and headache. This is followed by vomiting and diarrhea and heavy bleeding all over the body. More than half of the sick people die.

As the disease is transmitted through body fluids such as faeces, vomit or sweat, aid workers are particularly vulnerable: in Rwanda, around 70 percent of those infected are doctors.

Although there is no cure for the disease yet on the market, vaccine trials have been carried out in Uganda and Kenya since the beginning of last year. No safety risks have been found so far and, moreover, people who received the vaccine showed a rapid and strong immune response.

In Rwanda, 700 high-risk aid workers will receive the vaccine. The vaccines for this arrived in the country yesterday. The nonprofit vaccine maker Sabin, which supplies the drug, says more doses will be available later on request. be able to deliver. Other pharmaceutical companies are also working on vaccines, but they don’t exist yet.

In addition to the vaccines, the World Health Organization WHO will also receive 5,000 doses of the antiviral drug remdesivir, which is also used against Ebola. Although this cannot fight the virus, it can provide relief to patients.

The revolution in Rwanda, the first in the East African country, is the third largest ever in the world. There were only more victims in an epidemic around a Congolese gold mine between 1998 and 2000 (154 infections, 128 deaths) and one in Angola between 2004 and 2005 (252 infections, 227 deaths).

In others registered cases from Marburg it often involved one patient. For example, in 2008 a Dutch woman who contracted the disease died on a trip to Uganda.

According to the WHO, the population in Rwanda itself is particularly at risk possibility of international distribution small However, since the disease has also appeared in some border areas and in the capital Kigali where there is an international airport, the Rwandan health care system is screening travelers to prevent infected passengers.

Three days ago, a sick traveler triggered panic in Hamburg because the man had been working as a medical student in the affected area. However, it turned out alarm bells.

A Rwandan traveler in Belgium was also monitored for a time because he had been in contact with a patient, but the person did not develop any symptoms within the 21-day incubation period.