With West African, Africa and indeed the rest of the world,
still trying to wake up from the damages coursed by the deadly Ebola Virus
disease, the current death of a Ugandan hospital technician of another deadly
viral disease, Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever (MHR), has brought another fears.
The Uganda’s Ministry of Health disclosed that a total of 99
people who had been in contact with the victim had been moved to quarantine.
These contacts are also being monitored for signs and symptoms of the disease
after test confirmed that 30 years old man who worked as a radiographer in a
kampala hospital died of the disease.
The Virus was first identified in 1967, after simultaneous
outbreak in Marburg (From which the disease take its name) and frankfurt both
in Germany, Belgrade, Serbia and Yugoslavia. It was also traced back to Monkeys
important from Uganda for laboratory work. Since then, the disease has appeared
sporadically, with just a dozen outbreaks on record. The very recent outbreak,
also in Uganda, in 2012, killed 4 out of 15 patients according to the United
state of America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Marburg Virus is similar to the Ebola Virus in many ways
than one. Both also causes illnesses marked by severe bleeding(haemorrhage),
organs failure and in many cases, death.
The Marburg virus is a genetically unique zoonotic
(transmissible from animal to man) RNA virus of the filovirus family. The five
species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus
family. The reservoir host of Marburg virus is the African fruit bat which,
when infected with the virus, do not to show obvious signs of illness.
Source: naijaparrot.com
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