The Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Description

894 Words2 Pages

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. ...

... middle of paper ...

... 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/

More about The Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Description

Open Document