Africa is experiencing an outbreak of a deadly infection caused by the Marburg virus

What is happening? How dangerous is it for those living on other continents?

In late September 2024, Rwandan authorities announced the country's first outbreak of the disease caused by the Marburg virus. By October 4, 41 people had fallen ill, 12 of them had died, making this outbreak one of the largest. The Marburg virus is related to the Ebola virus and is very dangerous.

And what happens to a person in whose body this virus ends up?

They become seriously ill. There is no asymptomatic course of this infection. A person's temperature rises sharply, the stomach and muscles begin to hurt, he vomits, diarrhea appears, and then confusion. If a person dies, it usually happens after severe bleeding on the eighth or ninth day. It is now known that 24 to 88 percent of those infected die. The outcome partly depends on the quality of care.

And of course there is no cure?

Yes, as with many other diseases common in developing countries. But there are developments, and it is likely that a vaccine and some drugs will be tested in clinical trials during this outbreak.

And how likely are the chances that the virus will affect more than just Rwanda?

Despite the fact that the outbreak has affected the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, with its major international airport, the World Health Organization (WHO) assesses the risks of the infection spreading across the planet as low. The local government does not ban tourists from entering, but recommends taking precautions (in particular, washing hands and not communicating with people who look sick). Rospotrebnadzor "asks Russian citizens to take this information [about the outbreak] into account when planning trips." The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it safe to travel to Rwanda, but it is better to get insurance and follow a whole list of rules (for example, do not visit caves, funerals, traditional healers, and do not touch chimpanzees).

At the same time, the WHO believes that the risk of the infection spreading across the continent is high. The consequences will be especially serious if the virus ends up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which already has the world's worst monkeypox situation and seven million refugees.

But for now, quite serious measures have been taken to suppress the outbreak. In Rwanda, after it turns out that someone has a disease caused by the Marburg virus, they determine who this person has been in contact with, and some of these people are quarantined. More than 1,300 tests for the Marburg virus have already been conducted, 21 people are isolated or undergoing treatment (the infection can develop within 21 days after the virus enters the body).

Who is at risk?

Those who have had contact with blood, urine and other biological fluids. For the virus to enter the body, these fluids must come into contact with mucous membranes or damaged skin (not only directly from a person, but also through clothing or bedding). As far as is known, the virus is not transmitted by airborne droplets or mosquitoes.

And how did this outbreak start?

Officially, Rwandan officials do not disclose this. However, sources of the editorial board of Science magazine said that the first patient was a traveler who went to a hospital in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali. There, he was diagnosed with only malaria (accordingly, at first missing another infection), after which he died. The death occurred in early September, and the Rwandan authorities confirmed this. By the time the first patient died, several health workers had already fallen ill: they thought that they were dealing with malaria and did not take the necessary measures to protect themselves from the viral infection.

In nature, the carriers of the Marburg virus are Nile fruit bats (Egyptian fruit bats). In order for a person to become infected with the virus, they must somehow come into contact with these animals or with food that they have touched. “Animals can also pick up and eat infected fruit,” wrote Marat Makenov, an employee of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, who was looking for a carrier of the Marburg virus after the outbreak in Guinea, in an article published in the publication “N+1”. “This will lead to their infection, the development of a severe infection, and a sick animal is easy prey for hunters. Which, in turn, can also lead to human infection.”

Outbreaks of the disease caused by the Marburg virus occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya and South Africa.

But you can get sick not only in Africa. The name itself, the Marburg virus, appeared because the virus was first discovered in the German city of Marburg, in a laboratory where they worked with green monkeys from Uganda. Then, in 1967, several of its employees fell ill at once (as well as employees of the Belgrade laboratory who worked with the same monkeys).

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