The cousin of the virus has made it's way to a new place. The World Health Organization announced this week that there is an outbreak of Marburg in the African nation ofGhana. Two people have died as a result of contracting the disease.
When lab workers were exposed to monkeys imported from Africa, there was an outbreak of the Marburg virus, named after the German town where one of the first documented outbreak of the virus occurred in 1967. The African fruit bat is its home.
The same family of Viruses causes similar Symptoms in Humans. The first symptoms include flu-like illness, followed by a rash, vomiting, and abdominal pains. The life threatening infections can cause internal bleeding, organ failure, and shock. The mortality rate can be as high as 98%.
Humans are less likely to be affected by Marburg than are the people who have been affected by E. coli. Between 2004 and 2005 there was an outbreak of Marburg that killed over 200 people. Around 30,000 people were affected and 11,000 died in the biggest outbreak of the disease. While no specific options exist for Marburg right now, we have been able to develop effective antivirals and a vaccine against it due to our familiarity with it. This is the second time in as many years that Marburg has been documented in West Africa.
Both of the cases in the southern part of the country were unrelated to each other. They both went to the same hospital in June. Two labs, one of which is affiliated with the WHO, were able to confirm the presence of Marburg with samples from each patient.
The health authorities got a head start on preparing for a potential outbreak. Without immediate and decisive action, Marburg can easily get out of hand.
More than 90 contacts of the patients have been identified and are being monitored.
Now that the outbreak has been declared, WHO is marshalling more resources for the response.
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