Suspected Case of Rare Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Recorded in Guinea

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A suspected case of the rare Marburg virus, which causes the heavy hemorrhagic fever, has been identified in Guinea, the national Ministry of Health said.

The suspected case has already been studied by two Guinean laboratories and will be once again checked in Senegal. The Guinean authorities have also ordered to check people, who contacted the patient, as well as boosted control over the area where the case was recorded.

The Marburg hemorrhagic fever, which is very close to the Ebola one, is a highly lethal disease that has no specific treatment. Egyptian fruit bats are believed to be natural carriers of the virus, which can be transmitted from them to people as well as from human to human.

3. Things to know about #Marburg: There is no licensed vaccine & no approved drugs to treat it. There's been work on experimental vaccines & some Phase 1 trials, which suggests there may be some human grade vaccine available. How much would be a question.

— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) August 6, 2021

The virus is named after the German city of Marburg, whose laboratory saw the first recorded outbreak in 1967 when some of its employees caught the disease after contact with infected grivet monkeys.

5. Here's a list of known #Marburg outbreaks. A number involved international travelers who visited caves in Uganda, or miners — which makes sense because the reservoir species is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, per @CDCgov. https://t.co/eoSWOBEiiy pic.twitter.com/EMKf43QOEP

— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) August 6, 2021