July 22nd, 2022 at 09:36 am
Symptoms of the Marburg Virus
This virus, formally known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF), is similar to the Ebola virus. It causes you to quickly develop severe illness and fever, which could lead to shock or death. Experts first found Marburg virus disease (MVD) after two large outbreaks in Germany and Serbia in 1967.
Cases in these countries resulted from laboratory work done with infected monkeys imported from Uganda. Later reports of outbreaks and other lone cases emerged throughout Africa.
What Causes Marburg Virus Disease?
Humans usually get infected with this disease after lengthy exposure to mines or caves where Rousettus bat colonies live. These bats are natural hosts of the Marburg virus.
Marburg virus spreads from person to person through direct contact with an infected person’s blood, organs, secretions, or other bodily fluids. Materials and surfaces (like clothing or bedding) can contain infected fluids, and touching them can also spread the virus.
Health care workers often become infected after they treat people with confirmed or suspected cases of MVD. This happens when facilities don’t follow infection control safety measures after a staffer comes into close contact with an infected person.
Transmission can also result from contaminated injection tools or needle-stick injuries. These cases usually cause more intense disease, a quick decline in health, and perhaps a higher death rate.
In addition, burial ceremonies that involve direct contact with the body of someone who had MVD could also lead to transmission. Experts still consider you infectious if your blood contains the virus.
What are some of the symptoms of the virus?
The incubation period (interval from infection to onset of symptoms) varies from 2 to 21 days.
Illness caused by the Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache, and severe malaise. Muscle aches and pains are common features. Severe watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, nausea, and vomiting can begin on the third day.
Diarrhea can persist for a week. The appearance of patients at this phase has been described as showing “ghost-like” drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces, and extreme lethargy. In the 1967 European outbreak, the non-itchy rash was a feature noted in most patients between 2 and 7 days after the onset of symptoms.
Many patients develop severe hemorrhagic manifestations between 5 and 7 days, and fatal cases usually have some form of bleeding, often from multiple areas. Fresh blood in vomitus and feces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums, as well as vagina.
Also, spontaneous bleeding at venepuncture sites (where intravenous access is obtained to give fluids or obtain blood samples) can be particularly troublesome. During the severe phase of illness, patients have sustained high fevers.
Moreover, Involvement of the central nervous system can result in confusion, irritability, and aggression. Orchitis (inflammation of one or both testicles) has been reported occasionally in the late phase of the disease (15 days).
In fatal cases, death occurs most often between 8 and 9 days after symptom onset, usually preceded by severe blood loss and shock.
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