Marburg virus, what it is and how it is transmitted

First case of Marburg virus in Guinea scares West Africa. Marburg virus disease, formerly known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, reads on the portal of the Ministry of Health in the section dedicated to infectious diseases, “was identified in 1967 during the epidemics in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and in Belgrade in Serbia, in following the importation of infected monkeys from Uganda. It can affect both people and monkeys. It is, therefore, a zoonosis. ” “The reservoir of the Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, which lives in caves and is widespread in Africa. Fruit bats infected with the Marburg virus show no visible symptoms of the disease. However, further studies are needed to ascertain. whether other animal species can harbor the virus. Marburg virus disease typically occurs in sporadic outbreaks in Africa – it is explained – for example when miners go to bat-infested mines. The virus subsequently spreads within the favored community. from some traditional behaviors, for example linked to funeral rites. It is also possible that sporadic, isolated cases occur, but they go unnoticed “. “It is a serious and highly fatal hemorrhagic disease – the description reads – caused by a virus belonging to the Marburgvirus genus of the Filoviridae family, the same family as the one that causes Ebola virus disease. These viruses are among the most common pathogens. virulent that can infect people. Both diseases are rare, but have the potential to cause dramatic epidemics with high mortality. ” HOW IT IS TRANSMITTED “It has not been fully understood how the Marburg virus is transmitted from bats to humans, however it is believed that the most likely routes of transmission are unprotected contact with infected bat faeces or aerosol. from animals to people, the virus spreads from person to person through direct contact with blood, body fluids and tissues of infected people, or through contact with contaminated objects “reads the portal of the Ministry of Health.” The transmission of the virus Marburg has also occurred by handling sick or dead infected wild animals (monkeys, fruit bats). Contagion is favored in all situations of precarious health conditions, as is frequently the case in low-income countries, and where people are direct contact with the patient and with infected surfaces and materials, both at home and in hospital. Traditional funeral ceremonies i, which involve direct contact with the body may contribute to the spread of the infection. People remain infected as long as viraemia occurs. The infection can also be sexually transmitted, even after clinical recovery. “

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