MC Describes :What is the Marburg virus, and should India be on guard

Concerns have been raised about the possibility of a pandemic caused by the Ebola-like Marburg virus illness

The Marburg virus has experienced an epidemic breakout in Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is a first for the small country.

The WHO said that nine confirmed deaths and at least 16 cases of haemorrhagic fever had been found in the current pandemic. The most recent outbreak has renewed concerns about a potential worldwide epidemic for a society currently suffering from the impacts of a catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic.

But are these worries valid? MC clarifies:

Describe the Marburg virus.

Similar to how the Ebola virus spreads to people through intimate contact with infected bodily fluids or surfaces like contaminated bedsheets, the Marburg virus also starts in bats.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control, it is a very contagious viral hemorrhagic fever caused by an animal-borne RNA virus belonging to the same family as the Ebola virus, the Filoviridae.

An disease similar to Ebola is brought on by the Marburg virus and includes fever, headache, and severe malaise. Vomiting, diarrhoea, and aches and pains follow. Around five days later, bleeding occurs, and 90% of those who are infected may die as a result.

The infection, which is closely linked to the Ebola virus, currently has no recognised therapies, although vaccines are being developed.

Where is the virus now spread?

A number of patients began exhibiting signs of an infectious disease in 1967, including a high fever, chills, muscular pains, and vomiting, in Marburg virus and Frankfurt in Germany, as well as in Belgrade (then Yugoslavia, now Serbia). For the next three days, the patients’ health deteriorated until they started bleeding from all of their body’s openings, including needle puncture wounds. In all, 31 persons passed away.

Three months later, virologists in Marburg identified the first filovirus, a relative of the similarly lethal Ebola virus, as the origin of this mystery illness. Infected African green monkeys from Uganda carried the virus.

During the initial, documented epidemic, the Marburg virus was mostly discovered in African nations in bat-infested mines or caverns. But, outbreaks have also occurred in the US and Europe.

Can it pose a threat of a pandemic?

The Marburg virus is currently recognised as a highly transmissible illness because, like Ebola, it may spread from person to person by contact with body fluids. The possibility of a global outbreak is significant owing to rising globalisation and international travel, especially since the incubation period can last up to three weeks, as outbreaks in Europe and the US have demonstrated in the past. This has a high mortality rate, which might be devastating.

Does India need to worry?

The chances of a Marburg outbreak in India are very slim, according to Oxford-affiliated virologist Dr. Shahid Jameel, who told Moneycontrol that Marburg is primarily restricted to equatorial Africa. However, nothing is impossible in the modern world due to travel networks and the effects of climate change.

A resurgent Nipah virus in Bangladesh is something India has to keep a watch on, he added.

Without wishing to be named, another virologist who works at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi emphasised that India does not now need to be on high alert because the disease has a high fatality rate and is not anticipated to spread quickly or widely.

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The expert stated, “I think we should be more concerned about the HPAI- H5N1 (a bird flu virus that has also been discovered in some humans) spreading swiftly around the world,” pointing out that it has wiped out the poultry business in several nations.