What do we know about the Marburg virus?
This disease, which results in severe hemorrhagic fever, is caused by the Marburg virus. Its mortality rate can be up to 88%. The virus is part of the filovirus family, to which the Ebola virus also belongs, which has already caused several deadly epidemics in Africa. Animals can transmit it to primates living near them, including humans. Human-to-human transmission then occurs through contact with blood or other bodily fluids.
Marburg virus disease “manifests itself with headache, back pain, muscle pain, abdominal pain, vomiting, confusion, diarrhea and bleeding in the very advanced stages,” details on its website the World Health Organization (WHO). It “was first identified in Marburg, Germany, in 1967. Since then, a limited number of outbreaks have been reported in South Africa, Angola, Uganda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
In 2023, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania experienced outbreaks of cases of the virus for which there is “neither antiviral treatment nor effective vaccine,” the WHO further specifies. However, supportive care – oral or intravenous rehydration – and treatment of specific symptoms increase the chances of survival.
11 dead in Rwanda in one week
Rwanda has experienced an outbreak of cases in recent days. The number of victims of the Marburg virus rises to 11 deaths according to the Ministry of Health. 29 cases have been confirmed since the outbreak began on September 27. Of these, 19 are in isolation and receiving care across the country.
Most of the people who contracted the disease are health professionals, the Africa CDC (Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention) said on Tuesday. Some 290 contacts were traced, according to the institution.
Rwanda has ruled out implementing a lockdown to fight the virus, but called for avoiding all body contact. In a situation update on September 30the WHO estimated that the risk of an epidemic “is very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at the global level”.
Unconfirmed cases in Germany
Concern quickly spread to Germany after two people returning from Rwanda feared they had contracted the Marburg virus. Hamburg health authorities finally cleared suspicions of an infection on Thursday.
Returning from Rwanda on Wednesday, these two travelers took a train from Frankfurt to Hamburg and it was during this trip that one of the two, fearing having contracted a tropical disease, contacted doctors. He had worked in a hospital in Rwanda as part of his medical studies, where patients with Marburg virus were treated.
According to German media, it concerns a young man in his twenties who showed flu-like symptoms and felt slightly nauseous. However, he “never presented any disorders or symptoms corresponding to the clinical picture” of the disease, the authorities specified.
“For his own safety, the medical student […] will remain under observation until the end of the incubation period, which can last up to 21 days,” they added.
