Marburg outbreak not likely a global threat

	Tweet

An outbreak of deadly Marburg virus in Angola is probably not a global threat but international experts are working to bring it under control, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

The hemorrhagic fever, a relative of the Ebola virus, has killed some 200 people and terrified people in Uige province, northeast of Angola’s capital Luanda.

It causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea and can cause internal and external bleeding. The virus can be found in all the bodily fluids so health care workers must take extreme care, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said.

"People are frightened and people are embarrassed to be associated with this but I think the important message is we need to identify those who are sick, get them into care and teach health care workers how to protect themselves from blood and body fluid exposure,” Gerberding told CNN television.

There is no specific treatment for Marburg but putting patients on fluids and watching them in the hospital can help them survive.

The CDC chief said anyone who travels to the area and who is in contact with a Marburg victim needs to watch for symptoms for 10 days. But she said she did not believe the virus threatened to spread to the rest of the world.

“We’re optimistic about this one,” she said.

Gerberding said the CDC had sent eight staffers to Angola to join a World Health Organization team that is helping fight the virus, find and treat patients and, eventually, track down its source.

Scientists believe that Marburg, like Ebola virus, comes from an animal, possibly a monkey or other primate. Studies suggest that people become infected when they hunt and butcher monkeys, apes and other animals for the bush meat trade.

“There is a suspicion that there is some kind of primate source,” Gerberding said.

At least 203 people have died from the Marburg virus in this latest outbreak out of a total of 221 known cases. Gerberding said this high mortality rate was unusual, as the virus killed about 25 percent of victims in previous outbreaks.

She said she suspected it was because people were not seeking medical care until they were very ill.

Marburg gets its name from the German town where it was first reported in the 1960s after researchers there caught it from monkeys imported from Africa. The previous worst recorded outbreak was during a 1998-2000 epidemic in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo when 123 people died.

RELATED STORIES:
African first ladies meet in LA for female health   Calif. court rules lesbian egg donor lacks rights   Family planning programs have success in developing countries, but need to be expanded   Over-reactive immune system kills young adults during pandemic flu   Errors still common in U.S. hospitals   Top Six Summer Dangers: ER Doctor Offers Tips for Keeping Kids Safe   WHO wants global system for tracking clinical trials   IBM won’t use genetic info for hiring, benefits   Boozy Britain gets even more time at the bar   Traveler’s alert: Business travel linked to obesity and poor health   Japan cellphone firms find no DNA damage from waves   Link Found Between Poor Epilepsy Control And Higher Healthcare Costs

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]