Recently detected Marburg virus disease in Guinea is a cousin Ebola virus. The first case was detected in the prefecture of Guéckédou, in the south of the country. This is a man who died on August 2 and whose symptoms date back to July 25, the WHO said. Marburg’s disease is an acute fever with internal and external bleeding. It is almost as deadly as Ebola. On average, the disease is fatal in 50% of cases. To date, there is no treatment or vaccine to overcome it.

The disease takes its name from the German city of Marburg, where it was first identified in 1967, in a laboratory whose staff had been in contact with infected green monkeys imported from Uganda. Two other outbreaks were identified the same year in laboratories in Frankfurt, also in Germany, and in Belgrade (Yugoslavia, now in Serbia). At the time, a total of 7 people had died.

A disease from bats

The Marburg virus comes from the filoviridae (filovirus) family, just like the Ebola virus. The two pathogens have many characteristics in common, including their origin. We consider in fact that bats frugivores of the Pteropodidae family are the natural hosts of these two viruses.

Initially, infection in humans with the Marburg virus results from prolonged exposure in mines or caves with colonies of fruit bats. Human-to-human transmission occurs primarily through direct contact (through a scratch or through mucous membranes) with blood, fluids, organs, or body fluids from infected people. Contact with surfaces and materials contaminated by these fluids, such as sheets or clothing, is also a means of transmission.

Rapidly progressive fever

Disease marburg virus is a hemorrhagic fever. The incubation period is 2 to 21 days. The first symptoms are muscle pain, headache and high fever, often accompanied by severe discomfort. Nausea and vomiting may appear on the 3rd day of infection, as well as diarrhea which may persist for up to 1 week. In some cases, rashes have been seen. Patients at this stage are often described as having the appearance of ” ghosts With eyes set deep in their sockets, an expressionless face and extreme lethargy.

Many patients develop multiple severe hemorrhages (nose, gums, vagina and presence of blood in stool and / or vomit) between the 5th and 7th day. Involvement of the central nervous system can lead to confusional states, irritability and aggression. In fatal cases, death occurs 8 to 9 days after the first symptoms, most often after significant blood loss.

No treatment

There is no vaccine or approved treatment for the control of Marburg virus. Several treatments, based on blood products, immune therapies and drug treatments are under development according to the WHO. To date, oral or intravenous rehydration and the management of specific symptoms are the only therapeutic remedies used to improve the survival rate of patients. Another fight for caregivers: to prevent the epidemic from spreading. “To prevent the spread of the Marburg virus from reaching a rapid pace, we must stop it now“said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

For this, explains Ousmane Faye, researcher and head of the department of virology at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, “surveillance must be strengthened, all contact cases identified so that they can be isolated if they start to develop the disease, to avoid any transmissionThe disease has already claimed the life of one person and 155 contact cases have been identified to date. They are closely monitored by the Guinean health authorities who have also tightened border controls with Sierra Leone and Liberia. , to avoid all cross-border transmissions.

Avoid the worst

In Africa, previous outbreaks of Marburg virus disease and sporadic cases have been reported in South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the most serious epidemic recorded to date remains that which occurred in 2005 in northern Angola. At the time, the virus had claimed the lives of 329 people out of 374 recorded cases.

The Guinean case is the first appearance of the Marburg virus in West Africa. For almost a year, the region has been facing outbreaks of Ebola. Guinea has barely declared the end of the epidemic which began last February. If cases of Marburg disease were to increase in the region, then the authorities would face the challenge of fighting several health battles at once.

Source: AFP, WHO