According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Marburg Virus, or the Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF), is a very deadly virus. It has a fatality rate anywhere from 24% all the way up to 88% if an outbreak occurs. The Marburg virus takes its name from Marburg, Germany; which is the place where it was initially detected in the year of our Lord 1967. There were other outbreaks of this virus in Frankfurt, Germany and also in Belgrade, Serbia. The main carrier of this virus is believed to be the rousettus aegypti, or fruit bat. Once a human has come into contact with this virus it is easily spread among other humans. Most notably through through bodily fluids exchanged through sexual intercourse or when coming into contact with the recently deceased.
The Marbug virus is in the same virus family as the Ebola virus, the Filoviridae family. Incubation time of the virus ranges from two days to 21 days. The symptoms of the Marburg hemorrhagic fever start off with very quickly with a high fever and severe malaise. A hemorrhagic fever is a fever where you can spontaneously bleed from intravenous access points on your body and malaise is the feeling of being sick. You know something is wrong and you can feel it. You will get watery diarrhea with abdominal pain and cramping. The diarrhea will persist for a week. Around the third day you will begin having nausea and start vomiting. A patient who has contracted the Marburg Virus will often appear “ghost-like”. They will have a drawn face with deep-set eyes, an expressionless face an extreme lack of energy. In some cases a non-itchy rash can form anywhere from the second day to the seventh day. Somewhere between days five and seven a patient will start severe bleeding. ...
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... deaths. In 1975 South Africa had three cases and one death. 1980, Kenya had 2 cases and one death. Kenya again had another outbreak in 1987 with only person contracting the Marburg virus who died. From the years 1998 to 2000, the Democratic Republic of Congo had a total of 154 cases, of which 83%, or 128, people died. 2005 the country of Angola had 374 cases of which 329 people died. Uganda had four cases in 2007 with two deaths. 2008 saw two separate cases in Ugana and the Netherland with one cases each, of which the one in the Netherland died.
References
Slenczka, W., & Klenk, H. D. (2007). Forty years of marburg virus. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 196(S2), S131-S135.
The marburg virus. (1996). Library Journal, 121(5), 112.
World Health Organization. Marburg Virus. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs_marburg/en/
After a series of biochemical tests and evaluation to determine several unknown bacteria, the bacterium Yersinia pestis was chosen to report. The discovery of Y. pestis dates back to 1894 by French/Swiss physician and bacteriologist named Alexandre Yersin. The name Yersinia pestis is synonymous with its more common name, the plague. Y. pestis is known to infect small rodents such as mice and rats, but is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected animal or flea. Although this bacterium is known to still cause illness today, it is infamous for three pandemics that occurred in earlier centuries. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first recorded pandemic occurred in 541 A.D. and is known as the Justinian Plague. The second pandemic originated in China in 1334 and has received the egregious name the “Black Death.” Finally, the third outbreak took place in the 1860’s and is known as the Modern Plague. It wasn’t until the end of the Modern Plague that scientists discovered the causative agent and mode of transmission of the Yersinia pestis bacterium.
This virus is similar to Ebola, because it started in the same place. Lab workers in Germany, in 1967, contracted the new virus while working with African Green Monkeys, which had the virus. The virus is described as a hemorrhagic fever. It has a fatality rate up to 90% and spreads through human to human contact. The first symptoms can be as simple as a fever and a headache, then can progress to organ failure, and fatal internal bleeding.
In the 1995 film 'Outbreak' directed by Wolfgang Petersen a deadly virus has appeared in different parts of the United States. A team combining of the Center for Disease Control and Army Medical Research Institute of Infection Diseases took the lead on the Motaba virus. Sam the Colonel of the institute took his team to a village in Africa where the disease had been located. The disease wiped most of the village out in a matter of two to three days and they found the possible host. Returning back to the United States Sam and his team came to the conclusion the disease is not airborne and cannot spread. The disease was created 27 years before but destroyed the Army decided to bomb the whole infected area.
The structure of the Mumps is a single stranded RNA virus. Its genus is the Rubulavirus which is part of the Paramyxoviridae family . The Mumps virus is an acute virus that could become very harmful if not treated. Although it is not very prevalent in the United States anymore when outbreaks happen things can become very serious very quickly. Of course these outbreaks come from natural occurrences of people who have not been vaccinated (which will be discussed later) and have never had the disease. In earlier years the mumps virus mostly occurred in babies and children and also within the military but now if there is an occurrence, it is mostly found in adults.
Valley fever cannot spread from person to person. Most people who are exposed to the fungus experience symptoms, but do not get sick. The signs—fever, cough, and exhaustion—are difficult to distinguish from the flu, and can last for weeks to months. In people with weakened immune systems, the infection can cause more severe conditions such as meningitis or death.
Than, Ker. ""Zombie Virus" Possible via Rabies-Flu Hybrid?" National Geographic News. National Geographic, 27 Oct. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
A person who has been infected by the disease may experience signs of fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and a red rash that appears blotchy. Generally the signs become present between ten and twenty-one days after the person has been exposed to and infected by the virus (Silverstein et al., 1998). This is what is known as the incubation period (Plum, J., 2001). The rash is most likely to begin on the chest, back, or the scalp, but will soon spread to the rest of the body. After a couple days of having physical evidence of the infection, the rash will s...
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease that was first recorded in 1976, when an outbreak occurred in Yambuku, Zaire, a country that was latter renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (Walsh, Biek & Real, 2005). During the outbreak 318 cases were recorded of which 280 (88%) died. Later the same year, an outbreak occurred in Sudan where 284 cases were recorded with fatality rate of 53%. The disease and the virus that cause it are named after River Ebola that passes though Yambuku. In the USA, Ebola killed several monkeys in Reston, Virginia in 1989 (Barton, 2006; CDC, 2000). Despite several other outbreaks, the disease has neither medically approved pre-exposure nor post-exposure interventions. However, ongoing research shows optimistic signs.
It is believed that this virus has been in hiding since ancient times. The lack of knowledge about it’s natural history and reservoirs keeps researchers seeking out the mysterious virus that has no treatment or cure. Based on the available evidence and comparisons of similar viruses, researchers believed the virus to be animal-borne and that the host animal is native to Africa. Their attempts have been unsuccessful, and the source of the virus or where it circulates in between outbreaks is unknown.
The hanta virus is not a new foe to humanity. This mysterious and sometimes fatal disease has plagued humanity for over 1000 years. This virus, most likely originating in China over 1000 years ago, is transmitted by human contact with mice. Only relatively recently has the hanta virus captured the attention of the United States. Although the hanta virus has been known for such a long time, there is little known about the virus. In the United States most cases are found in the southwestern part of the country, although cases have been reported from all four corners of the country. Recently, there have been successful tests done on prospective vaccines for the hanta virus. Despite this, strains of the hanta virus kill many people a year for lack of an effective medicine or vaccine (www.pharminfo.com).
The sources of this outbreak were either bubonic or viral in nature. Basically, commercial trading ships carrying infected people, rats and flea-infested cargo were the primary mode of transmitting the bubonic strand while the viral stand was pneumonic and spread by person-to-person contact. Russia’s rural areas were affected by the plague in the latter 19th century; however, there were only about 420 deaths due to better hygiene and patient isolation. The Siberian area saw a much greater death toll because of increased prices and demand for marmot skins. Marmots were small rats known to carrier this disease. Hunters of these rats were responsible for spreading this disease which killed approximately 60,000 people. Bubonic plague was found in other places but mostly contained in Asia. The disease was also found in Hawaii and San Franciso around the 20th century. Modern human outbreaks are linked to high mortality rates amongst rats without the presence of buboes and swelling of the groin. The third outbreak was instrumental in leading to modern day
The Ebola virus and Marburg virus are the two known members of the Filovirus family. Marburg is a relative of the Ebola virus. The four strains of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola Tai. Each one is named after the location where it was discovered. These filoviruses cause hemorrhagic fever, which is actually what kills victims of the Ebola virus. Hemorrhagic fever is defined as a group of viral aerosol infections, characterized by fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and respiratory symptoms. This is followed by capillary hemorrhages, and, in severe infection, kidney failure, hypotension, and, possibly, death. The incubation period for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever ranges from 2-21 days. The blood fails to clot and patients may bleed from injection sites and into the gastrointestinal tract, skin and internal organs. Massive destruction of the liver is one distinct symptom of Ebola. This virus does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to do. It also requires bio-safety level four containment, the highest and most dangerous level. HIV the virus that causes AIDS requires only a bio-safety level of two. In reported outbreaks, 50%-90% of cases have been fatal.
If they are infected, an incubation period of 3-6 days follows in which no symptoms are present (“Yellow Fever” Gale Encyclopedia). This period of time can sometimes be most dangerous since the infected individual may continue to work and interact normally with others. Therefore, if they continue to work outdoors, mosquitos may transmit their blood—and the Yellow Fever disease—to others. This shows how in campsites or close working quarters, groups of working men can quickly circulate the disease. In a matter of days, Yellow Fever can spread through a population. This period of incubation is followed by an abrupt onset of symptoms including, fever (for which the disease is named), chills, intense headaches, white coating of the red and swollen tongue, and Faget’s sign (slowed heart-rate coupled with high fever) (“Yellow Fever” Center for Disease Control). After the invasion period, the patient may appear to recover as symptoms dissipate and fever decreases for hours or even days. For some the disease is over, but for others a more severe stage will soon
horrible disease was spread by infected rats and fleas and killed 1/4 to 1/3 of the
In order to investigate the efficiency of the molecule and possible side effects, the research team tested the effect of BXC4430 on animal models. Cynomolgus macaques were inoculated with a fatal dose of Marburg virus and were treated with daily doses of BXC4430 from between 1-48 hours post infection. The results indicated that only one monkey treated one hour after being infected died. The rest of the monkeys survived and moreover didn’t show any symptoms of the disease. No signs of systemic toxicity were found.