Blood from the eyes: WHO declares a new epidemic threat

Marburg virus is out of control in Africa

The World Health Organization predicts a new epidemic. This time, the tropical Marburg virus (or Marburg fever) is of particular concern, which kills up to 90% of those infected, after first causing them to suffer from a rash and blood from the eyes. If the infection starts to spread, we will all be in trouble, to put it mildly.

The threat first emerged back in 2022: then an outbreak in Guinea that affected more than 200 people was contained through strict quarantine. But now WHO is announcing a serious alarm: an epidemic is literally on the doorstep. Today, Marburg fever is spreading like wildfire across Africa. 7 out of 30 regions are already at risk: Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Rounda and Uganda. But travelers can begin to spread the virus to other countries, because the disease is transmitted from person to person, according to the WHO.

This virus was first identified among laboratory employees who worked with monkeys and became infected from them in the German city of Marburg. Marburg virus, one of the filoviruses, like Ebola fever, belongs to the group of extremely dangerous ones. It causes hemorrhagic fever with a very high mortality rate. Bleeding develops everywhere, both inside the body and outside - from the nose, gums, eyes and genitals (the disease is also called Marburg hemorrhagic fever). Due to the manifestations of the disease, people become outwardly similar to zombies from blockbusters about the end of the world. The patient's eyes become deeply sunken and his facial muscles are paralyzed. The symptoms of Marburg virus (MARV) are very similar to Ebola. Although it all starts quite harmlessly, with a sore throat and high fever. Other symptoms include rash, cramping diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

It is believed that the natural reservoir of the virus is a species of bat. The WHO notes that people become infected with Marburg as a result of long stays in mines or caves where Rousettus bats are found. The virus is transmitted through direct contact, through damaged skin or mucous membranes, and also through blood. The incubation period ranges from 2 days to three weeks. There is no vaccine for the virus. As, indeed, medications. The only thing that can be offered to those infected today is intravenous drips to relieve symptoms.

“The virus is really scary, a hemorrhagic fever like the better known Ebola, with a mortality rate of 24-88% in different outbreaks. Like the monkeypox virus, it was first discovered in the vivariums of Western countries in monkeys brought from Africa (one of the monkey houses in the first identified outbreaks was in the German city of Marburg). Its natural reservoir is tropical bats. Until last year, Marburg was considered endemic to central Africa. However, it is now spreading from country to country. Last fall there was the first outbreak in the history of West Africa in Guinea, and now in Ghana,” says famous US geneticist Dmitry Prus.

The scientist suggests that the virus can spread in the population through carriers whose symptoms are not yet specific enough; with their personal belongings, through surfaces: “Perhaps the circle of animal carriers has also expanded. In any case, the Ebola analogy suggests that the threat will remain endemic only in the tropics. But even at the dawn of Covid, there was an analogy with the first SARS, which assumed that the threat would remain mainly local, but nevertheless it turned out completely differently.”

However, some scientists reassure that for now the virus still remains a very rare phenomenon. In addition, according to some data, if infection occurs not from animals, but from person to person, the disease is much easier.

There is another reason for optimism: more than half a century has passed since the virus was discovered, and since then there has not been a single significant epidemic associated with it. And besides Africa, it has not yet spread anywhere.