Kitum, dubbed the world's deadliest cave, could cause the next pandemic. The deep cave, which was reportedly widened by elephants became a haven for bats carrying diseases.
Kitum Cave: The Deadliest Cave in the World
Kitum Cave is located in Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya. It has a history that is simultaneously uplifting and unsettling.
The cavern's walls are covered in scuffs and marks that appear to be caused by miners searching for gems or gold. However, it turned out that the elephants were behind the markings on the wall.
Also, the place turned out to be home to some of the deadliest viruses known to man. Ebola and Marburg virus reportedly started there.
A French engineer working at a neighboring sugar refinery came into contact with the body-melting Marburg virus in 1980 while exploring Kitum Cave. He quickly passed away at a Nairobi hospital.
A book on the case characterized the man's rapid degradation from viral hemorrhagic or blood-letting fever "as if the face is detaching itself from the skull," with connective tissue in his face dissolving and his face appearing to hang from the underlying bone.
Seven years later, a Danish schoolboy on holiday with his family became the next victim of Kitum Cave. The boy passed away with the Ravn virus, a similar hemorrhagic virus.
Kitum has become a breeding ground for zoonotic illnesses due to the valuable salty minerals found in the cave, which have attracted not just elephants but also buffaloes, antelope, leopards, and hyenas from western Kenya, according to the researchers. Elephants have repeatedly extended and deepened the 600-foot-deep cave, only to see it turn into a home for disease-carrying bats.
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Kitum Cave Could Give Rise to the Next Pandemic
Experts fear that it could be the home of the next pandemic - Marburg virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Marburg virus was "epidemic prone."
Marburg is reportedly a "highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever." The condition damages the cardiovascular system and reduces the body's ability to function. The virus belongs to the same family as the virus behind Ebola and has a fatality rate of up to 88 percent.
The virus can be transmitted from person to person by contact with bodily fluids from an infected individual, as well as by fruit bats found all over central Africa. Touching towels or other items that have come into contact with an infected person can also spread the illness to others.
The Marburg virus might take up to 21 days to incubate in an infected person before symptoms appear. When they do appear, however, warning signs first resemble those of other tropical illnesses like malaria and Ebola.
Patients with infection often develop expressionless faces and deep-set eyes, making them appear "ghostly." In later stages, however, it causes bleeding from various openings, such as the vagina, eyes, nose, and gums.
At present, there are no approved vaccines or therapies for the virus. Physicians rely on medications to treat symptoms and fluids to keep patients hydrated.
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