After two deadly outbreaks of the rare Marburg virus disease in Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning US doctors to be on the lookout for patients exhibiting symptoms.
In the agency’s health advisory, issued Thursday, officials urged clinicians to be vigilant due to the “potential for imported cases.” There are no reported US cases of the virus, and the risk here is low, the CDC said.
Officials recommend doctors assess patients who develop hemorrhagic fevers. MVD can be caused by the Marburg or Ravn viruses, and has appeared this year in two seemingly independent outbreaks in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.
“Early identification of MVD or other viral hemorrhagic fevers is important for providing appropriate and prompt patient care and preventing the spread of infection,” the agency stated.
This year’s outbreak of Marburg virus disease, closely related to Ebola, was first reported in Equatorial Guinea in February, involving a cluster of deaths suspected to be caused by a viral hemorrhagic fever. As of Wednesday, 14 MVD cases have been identified in the country including 10 fatalities.
In March, an outbreak was declared in Tanzania, where there have been eight reported cases, including five fatalities.
Neither country has never experienced an outbreak of MVD before, and the origin of these outbreaks is unclear, per the CDC.
The disease is considered one of the deadliest — more so than its pathogenic cousin Ebola. The CDC estimates a mortality rate of up to 90% if the disease is not diagnosed and treated early on, but prompt intervention and intensive care can lower the disease’s morality rate.
Infection — via broken skin or mucus membranes — can occur through contact with the bodily fluids of a person who is sick or has died from the disease, or through contaminated needles or contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals.
There is currently no vaccine or treatment for MVD approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Symptoms include fever, chills, headache and body aches. A rash is typically observed in patients after five days of symptoms, and those infected may also experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chest pain, stomach pain and a sore throat.
Severe symptoms also include jaundice, weight loss, liver failure, shock, delirium, multi-organ dysfunction and internal bleeding.
The CDC recommends that individuals living in or traveling to regions where the virus could be present avoid coming into contact with the bodily fluids of sick people.
The agency also advises against attending funerals or burials in those regions that involve touching the body of someone who may have died from MVD.
The CDC advises anyone returning from areas which have experienced outbreaks to monitor their health for 21 days, the incubation period of the virus.
In February, the World Health Organization called an emergency meeting after nine deaths were reported due to highly infectious MVD, and on April 1, CDC sent personnel from the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases to outbreak sites in an attempt to curb the virus’s spread.
