Fox Health: Deadly Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda has health officials on high alert

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Deadly Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda has health officials on high alert

Amid reports of a deadly viral outbreak in Central Africa, researchers are reportedly scrambling to develop treatments and vaccines to combat Marburg virus....                        ...                        ...                            ...Amid reports of a deadly viral outbreak in Central Africa, researchers are reportedly scrambling to develop treatments and vaccines to combat the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.......As of Sept. 30, 2024, the country of Rwanda — which is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — has reported 27 cases of the virus and nine subsequent deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).......Most of the cases have affected health care workers at two You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login in the city of Kigali, the same source stated.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......The patients are being cared for in hospitals, as noted by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sept. 29. ......"Contact tracing is underway, with 300 contacts under follow-up," WHO stated.......This is the first time the Marburg virus has been reported in Rwanda.......Similar to Ebola, Marburg is a "rare but severe hemorrhagic fever" that can cause "serious illness and death," with a 20% to 90% fatality rate.......There have not been any confirmed cases in the United States, and the CDC says the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login in the country is low.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......"It is highly fatal in humans and there is no treatment — and unlike Ebola, there is no vaccine," Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, told Fox News Digital......."It is very similar to Ebola in that it causes hemorrhagic fever," he added.......Marburg is "difficult to catch," Siegel noted, as it requires close contact with bodily secretions.......The virus is spread by the Egyptian fruit bat (Egyptian rousette bat), which is found in both Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, per the CDC. ......An infected human can transmit the disease to other humans through exchange of bodily fluids and contaminated objects.......Marburg isn't new — it was first discovered in 1967, when You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login in labs in Marburg and Frankfurt (both in Germany) and in Serbia (formerly Belgrade, Yugoslavia).......In 2023, there were outbreaks of the virus in Tanzania (resulting in five deaths) and Equatorial Guineau (12 deaths).......Initial signs and symptoms of the virus include fever, chills, a rash with flat and raised bumps, muscle aches, headache, sore throat, chest pain, nausea, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, according to the CDC.......Advanced stages of the disease can be marked by delirium, liver failure, shock, hemorrhagic bleeding and organ failure.......Symptoms typically emerge within two to 21 days of infection......."In fatal cases, death occurs most often between eight and nine days after symptom onset, usually preceded by severe blood loss and shock," WHO stated in its You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......There are currently no treatments for Marburg other than "supportive care," the CDC noted.......Patients should be under the care of a doctor who can monitor oxygen status and blood pressure, provide intravenous fluids, and treat any secondary infections, the agency stated. ......Rest and hydration are also key to recovery.......To prevent outbreaks, the CDC recommends avoiding contact with blood and bodily fluids of sick people and those who have recovered from the virus until tests confirm the complete absence of the virus.......People should also refrain from touching items that may have been contaminated with an infected person's bodily fluids, the CDC cautioned.......No vaccine is currently available for Marburg, although "some You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login are currently under development," according to WHO.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......"There are promising vaccines and therapeutic candidates for MVD, but these must be proven in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," the organization added.......You are not allowed to view links. Register or LoginYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Login......"WHO assesses the risk of this outbreak as very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level. Investigations are ongoing to determine the full extent of the outbreak and this risk assessment will be updated as more information is received."...

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