The Next Potential Pandemic: The Marburg Virus

The Marburg virus, which is one of the most dangerous viruses on earth. And this time it's not coming from China, but Africa. WHO states that the Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by the Marburg virus from Filoviridae family; the same family as the Ebola virus. But what is it?

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Marburg virus causes Marburg hemorrhagic fever — an illness marked by severe bleeding (hemorrhage), organ failure and, in many cases, death. Humans can contract the Marburg virus from infected animals (African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus). After the initial transmission, the Marburg virus can spread from person to person through contact with body fluids or contaminated needles. Marburg virus is not known to be native to other continents, such as North America.

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Marburg virus disease outbreak distribution map

Marburg virus disease outbreak distribution map[/caption]

Marburg hemorrhagic fever typically appears in sporadic outbreaks throughout Africa; laboratory confirmed cases have been reported in Uganda, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Angola, and South Africa. Many of the outbreaks started with male mine workers working in bat-infested mines. The virus is then transmitted within their communities through cultural practices, under-protected family care settings, and under-protected health care staff. It is possible that sporadic, isolated cases occur as well, but go unrecognized.

Cases of Marburg hemorrhagic fever have occurred outside Africa, such as during the 1967 outbreak, but are infrequent. Marburg virus was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Thirty-one people became ill, initially laboratory workers, followed by several medical personnel and family members who had cared for them. Seven deaths were reported. The first people infected had been exposed to imported African green monkeys or their tissues while conducting research. One additional case was diagnosed retrospectively.

Countries reporting outbreaks of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever

  • Angola

  • DR Congo

  • Germany

  • Kenya

  • Serbia

  • South Africa

  • Uganda

No drug has been approved to treat Marburg virus. People diagnosed with Marburg virus receive supportive care and treatment for complications. Scientists are coming closer to developing vaccines for these deadly diseases.

Transmission

  1. Unprotected contact with infected bat feces or aerosols

  2. Direct contact (through broken skin) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

Transmission from animals to humans

Experts suspect that both viruses are transmitted to humans through an infected animal’s bodily fluids. Examples include:

  1. Blood. Butchering or eating infected animals can spread the viruses. Scientists who have operated on infected animals as part of their research have also contracted the virus.

  2. Waste products. Tourists in certain African caves and some underground mine workers have been infected with the Marburg virus, possibly through contact with the feces or urine of infected bats.

Marburg Virus symptoms

Incubation period of 5-10 days

  1. Sudden and marked by fever, chills, headache, and myalgia

  2. Around the fifth day after the onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach), may occur

  3. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhea may then appear

  4. Symptoms become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction.

The case-fatality rate for Marburg hemorrhagic fever is between 23-90%.

For people who survive ...

It may take months to regain weight and strength, and the viruses remain in the body for weeks. People may experience:

  • Hair loss

  • Sensory changes

  • Liver inflammation (hepatitis)

  • Weakness

  • Fatigue

  • Headaches

  • Eye inflammation

  • Testicular inflammation

Conspiracies

It's true that many people are totally sick of the COVID-19 pandemic. For everyone in the world to see, that pandemic didn't turn out to be fatal, as the authorities and medical science have been claiming for more than two years. Also, the vaccine against COVID-19 turned out not to be effective in any way.

But with the overwhelming proof that the reality of the pandemic and the claims of the governmental and medical authorities are not the same, many people start to believe in conspiracies, true or not.

With the news of the monkeypox and now the appearance of the Marburg virus, people are highly suspicious about the timing of the announcements. Also, the fact that the population have absolutely no confidence in their government and institutions, they are weary of the fear-porn those organizations are again generating.

When you read this article, it's clear that the Marburg virus is not as contagious as the coronavirus suppose to be.