:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/2F67DUZJMBDPDN33SHJ2AAM3IY.jpg "Marburg virus: no vaccine and up to 88% mortality; here’s what you need to know about the dreaded disease that resurfaced in Ghana | WORLD")
The detection of two cases of the disease by the marburg virus (EVM) and Ghana, the first in the country, turned on the alerts. The reason: it is a hemorrhagic fever almost as deadly as Ebola, and without a vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the EVM “It’s serious and often deadly.” Its incubation period is between two and 21 days.
Symptoms
The WHO points out that the symptoms of this disease appear suddenly and manifest with:
- high fever
- Intense headache
- Great general malaise.
- Frequent muscle pain.
MIRA: Marburg virus: first cases of deadly disease detected in Ghana
On the third day, explains the body, intense watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps, nausea and vomiting may appear.
Diarrhea may persist for a week. Eyes sunken, patients suffer from extreme lethargy and present what the OMS describe how “ghost look”
Between days five and seven, patients usually have severe bleeding. Fatal cases usually present some form of bleeding, often into multiple organs. The presence of fresh blood in vomit and feces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums, and vagina.
Spontaneous bleeding at venipuncture sites where fluids are given or blood samples are drawn can be especially troublesome. During the severe phase of the disease, patients have a persistently high fever.
This sickness affects the central nervous system: patients present confusion, irritability, and aggressiveness. In the late phase of the disease (15 days after onset) it can present orchitis (inflammation of the testicles) in men.
Death usually occurs within eight to nine days of the onset of symptoms.. “It is usually preceded by great blood loss and shock,” she says. OMS.
Mortality
The average fatality rate of the disease, warns the WHO, is around 50%. However, it can be as high as 88%, depending on the viral strain and care.
The OMS stresses that rehydration and rapid administration of symptomatic treatment improve survival.
Origen
It is considered that the natural host of marburg virus is he fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus, family Pteropodidae). The virus is transmitted from these bats to humans and spreads between them directly.
MVD was first identified in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt. (both cities in Germany) and in Belgrade (Serbia).
Although marburg virus and of Ebola are different viruses, both belong to the family Filoviridae and cause diseases with similar clinical characteristics, says the OMS.
The 1967 outbreaks were associated with laboratory work with African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) imported from Uganda. Subsequently, outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, Kenyathe Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa (in a person who had recently traveled to Zimbabwe) y Uganda.
In 2008, two separate cases were reported in travelers who had visited a cave inhabited by colonies of Rousettus bats, Uganda.
Transmission
It is transmitted by direct contact of broken skin or mucous membranes with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected people.as well as with surfaces and materials contaminated with said liquids, such as personal clothing or bedding.
The WHO notes that cases of transmission to health personnel caring for patients with EVM“through close contact without proper infection control precautions. Infection through contaminated injection materials or needle sticks is associated with increased disease severityfaster aggravation, and possibly a higher case fatality rate.”
how is it with him ebola, Marburg virus can also be spread at funeral ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased. The patient can spread the disease as long as he has the virus in his blood.
Treatment
According to the WHO, no treatment has been shown to be effective in neutralizing this virusbut they are developing various immunological, pharmacological and blood-derived treatments.
Neither does there exist, up to now, a vaccine against EVM.
Supportive therapy with oral or intravenous rehydration and treatment of certain symptoms improve the chances of survival. The WHO indicates that in some cases the use of “monoclonal antibodies in development and certain antivirals that have been used in clinical studies to treat Ebola, such as remdesivir and Favipiravir,” could be tested.
It details that “in May 2020, the European Medicines Agency granted a marketing authorization for the Zabdeno (Ad26.ZEBOV) and Mvabea (MVA-BN-Filo) vaccines against EVM. The latter contains a virus called Vaccinia Ankara Bavarian Nordic that has been modified to express proteins from the Ebola-Zaire virus and three other viruses from the same group (family Filoviridae). Although this vaccine could protect against MVD, its efficacy has not yet been demonstrated in clinical trials.”
How can it be diagnosed?
Since the symptoms of EVM resemble those of malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, meningitis and other viral hemorrhagic fevers, the best to confirm if it is the marburg virus is to use the following methods:
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); antigen detection tests; serum neutralization test; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); electron microscopy; and virus isolation in cell culture.
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