Outbreak of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Begins in Uganda as Ebola Outbreak Ends
Posted on October 22, 2012
Uganda recently declared an end to an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, but now the region faces a new hemorrhagic threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed three deaths from an outbreak of Marburg, a virus that, like Ebola, also causes hemorrhagic fever, yesterday.
According to the WHO, Marburg being with severe headache and severe malaise. Most patients develop severe hemorrhagic manifestations between days 5 and 7. There is usually bleeding from multiple sites in fatal cases. There is no cure. The WHO says fatality rates from Marburg have ranged from 25% to 80%.
Reuters reports that there are now five deaths and that the virus has spread to the capital Kampala after an infected woman traveled to the city. One of the case is in the Mulago Hospital. 34 people are under isolation. In another update, WHO reports there are 9 cases.
The image above is a transmission electron micrograph (TEM), photographed at the CDC, of a 1975 Rhodesian (now Zimbabwean) Marburg hemorrhagic fever patient.