Keystone-SDA
This content was published on October 16, 2024 – 05:16
(Keystone-ATS) The first clinical trial of a treatment for Marburg virus has started in Rwanda, where this form of Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever has killed at least 13 people this fall. This trial uses a drug used to treat Covid-19.
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed “encouraging news” on Tuesday on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Rwanda declared a Marburg outbreak on September 28. As of October 11, the country’s Ministry of Health recorded 58 cases of infected people, 13 deaths and 12 recoveries.
In addition to treatment, an immunization campaign using an experimental vaccine has been launched and the African Union health agency considers that the epidemic is now “under control”.
Case fatality rate up to 88%
With a mortality rate of up to 88%, the very dangerous Marburg virus causes high fever often accompanied by hemorrhages affecting several organs. There are currently no confirmed vaccines or officially approved antiviral treatments.
Marburg is a member of the filovirus family, to which the Ebola virus also belongs, which has already caused deadly epidemics in Africa.
Animals can transmit it to primate mammals living near them, including humans. Human-to-human transmission then occurs through contact with blood or other bodily fluids.
According to the WHO, the ongoing clinical trial in Rwanda “includes safety and efficacy trials of Remdesivir – an antiviral already used to treat Covid-19 – and MBP091 – a special antibody designed to fight the virus. Marburg.”
“This trial is the result of two years of work by nearly 200 researchers, developers, health ministry officials and partners from global and 17 African countries at risk of outbreaks of filoviruses such as Ebola and Marburg,” he said. added the UN organization.
