Marburg Virus First Case Confirmed in Guinea, Fruit Bats Host What WHO Tags As 'Highly Dangerous' Disease

The first case of the fatal Marburg virus has been confirmed in Guinea, sending over 100 individuals into quarantine months after the Ebola outbreak ended in the country.

USA TODAY via Yahoo! News reported a man in Guinea died from the highly contagious Marburg virus, which the World Health Organization also calls the "cousin of Ebola virus."

According to the WHO, the first case of the virus in Guinea was detected on Friday, when the man initially exhibited symptoms in late July and died eight days after. Tests conducted after his death verified the man was indeed positive for the Marburg virus.

As mentioned, the WHO said Marburg is a highly infectious illness spread through bodily fluids. It has a mortality rate of up to 90 percent and is part of the same family of viruses as Ebola.

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A Highly Dangerous Virus

Medical Xpress describes the Marburg virus as "a highly dangerous pathogen" that causes hemorrhagic fever. The average mortality rate is 50 percent, in a 24- to 88-percent range based on past outbreaks.

The name of this virus is derived from the German city of Marburg, where it was originally detected in 1967 in a laboratory where workers had been in contact with infected green monkeys.

Other outbreaks were reported to have occurred simultaneously in Frankfurt and Belgrade, then in Yugoslavia, now called Servia, called Serbia. Seven people died from these said outbreaks.

The Marburg virus's natural host or reservoir is the African fruit bat. This cave-dwelling mammal carries the virus, but it does not fall sick from it.

However, it can transmit the virus to primates in close vicinity, including humans; one suspected pathway is the butchering of infected bats for consumption.

The human-to-human transmission then occurs through contact with bodily fluids like blood or contact with surfaces like clothing or bedding tainted with the said fluids.

This Medical Xpress report also specified that some infections had occurred accidentally in the laboratory through needle wounds.

Symptoms and Treatments

It takes two to 21 days for the virus to incubate, resulting in abrupt symptoms of severe headaches, high fever, muscular pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.

These symptoms make the Marburg virus more difficult to initially diagnose, as they are similar to illnesses like malaria and typhoid.

Hemorrhagic episodes usually follow from five to seven days after, with blood in the vomit and feces and bleeding from the gums, nose, and vagina. In deadly cases, death occurs most frequently, from eight to nine days.

As for the treatment, there are no antiviral treatments or vaccines developed specifically for the Marburg virus. Nonetheless, rehydration using oral or intravenous techniques enhances survival, and the investigational use of monoclonal antibody drugs has effectively alleviated the symptoms.

Another Virus After Ebola

The recently reported confirmed case comes months after the Ebola outbreak in Guinea ended in June. Gueckedou, the region where the Marburg virus was confirmed, was also the area where cases of Ebola were detected this year.

According to the WHO's regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, they applaud its health workers' alertness and quick action.

Meanwhile, how the man got infected remains unknown, although scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in January, Marburg was detected in Egyptian rousette bats located in Sierra Leone, sharing a border with Guinea.

Report about the Marburg virus detected in Guinea is shown on SABC's YouTube video below: