Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever in United States
A bat cave associated with Marburg infections
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is a rare, severe type of hemorrhagic fever which affects both humans and non-human primates. Caused by a genetically unique zoonotic (that is, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family, its recognition led to the creation of this virus family. The five species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.
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). A total of 37 people became ill; they included laboratory workers as well as several medical personnel and family members who had cared for them. The first people infected had been exposed to African green monkeys or their tissues. In Marburg, the monkeys had been imported for research and to prepare polio vaccine.
On January 22, 2009, CDC’s Special Pathogens Branch retrospectively diagnosed a case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in a U.S. traveler, who returned from Uganda in January, 2008. The patient developed illness four days after returning to the U.S., was hospitalized, discharged, and fully recovered. Initial testing of samples collected during the patient’s acute illness in January, 2008 did not initially show evidence of Marburg virus infection. Testing of a convalescent sample indicated a possible previous infection, and more detailed testing of both samples at CDC confirmed that the patient’s illness was due to Marburg hemorrhagic fever.
The recovered patient had visited the “python cave†in Maramagambo Forest, Queen Elizabeth Park, western Uganda. This is a popular destination among tourists to see a cave inhabited by thousands of bats; a fatal case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever occurred in a Dutch tourist in July 2008 who had entered this cave. Both patients likely acquired their infections as a result of contact with cave-dwelling fruit bats, which are capable of harboring Marburg virus. Marburg virus is a zoonotic virus that occurs in tropical areas of Africa, and causes a severe, often fatal, hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. It can also be transmitted through direct contact with a symptomatic patient or materials contaminated with infectious body fluids. The Ugandan Ministry of Health officially closed the cave to visitors in August 2008, after the Dutch case.
Map of caves associated with previous Marburg infections
Table of contents for Marburg
- Epidemics: Marburg
- Epidemics: Marburg 4-19-05
- Marburg: Updated 4-27-2005
- Marburg: WHO Gets Arount to It
- Marburg: Slowly Dying Out
- Marburg: Finally Over?
- Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever in United States
the attachments to this post:
bat_cave
marburg_caves_map
