An update on the Marburg Virus outbreak in West Africa
SHARE:
- The story: As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on in Africa amid insufficient vaccination rollout, viral haemorrhagic fever has again raised its head. This adds to public health turmoil on the continent where resources to respond to emerging and re-emerging epidemic prone zoonotic diseases remain limited.
- When: In the first week of August 2021, a Marburg virus disease outbreak was declared in south-western Guinea. This was the same area in which the recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease occurred and only weeks after the end of the Ebola outbreak was declared.
- The first recognised outbreak of Marburg virus disease in Africa occurred in 1975 in South Africa. It was an imported case from Zimbabwe. Imported cases from Uganda were reported in 2008 in the US and the Netherlands and one laboratory infection was diagnosed in Russia in 2004. To date the largest and deadliest outbreak occurred in Angola in 2004–2005.
- It is a highly virulent disease that causes haemorrhagic fever, it is carried by bats with a fatality ratio of up to 88%.
- It is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Two large outbreaks that occurred simultaneously in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1967, led to the initial recognition of the disease. The outbreak was associated with laboratory work using African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) imported from Uganda. Outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
- Infections: Human infection with Marburg virus disease initially results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies. Rousettus is a genus of Old World fruit bats or megabats. They are sometimes referred to as dog-faced fruit bats, or flying foxes.
- Transmission - Once an individual is infected with the virus, Marburg can spread through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
- Symptoms - Headache, vomiting blood, muscle pains and bleeding through various orifices. Symptoms become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction.
- Diagnosis - Since many of the disease's symptoms are similar to those of malaria and typhoid fever, making a diagnosis is difficult. But, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) testing can be used to confirm a case.
- Treatment - There is no specific treatment or approved vaccine for Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Supportive hospital therapy should be utilized. Hospital therapy includes balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, maintaining oxygen status and blood pressure, replacing lost blood and clotting factors, and treatment for any complicating infections.
- Future: What needs to be fixed in Africa? A number of factors get in the way of researching, responding to and controlling zoonotic diseases in Africa. These include (i) insufficient and un-coordinated surveillance and research programmes; (ii) limited regional capacity to develop new and improved diagnostic assays; (iii) shortage of maximum containment facilities; (iv) lack of strategic biobanks for long-term and secure storage of reference clinical materials, strains and pathogen biodiversity; (v) lack of regional External Quality Assurance programmes for dangerous endemic viral and bacterial pathogens.
- Summary: A timely, streamlined, well-funded and efficient disease reporting and surveillance system is essential to monitor the threat of potential epidemics. To strengthen the efficiency of responding quickly, each nation must improve its own capacity in disease recognition and laboratory competence.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) How does Africa's developmental challenge impact its healthcare delivery? Explain. (2) What are the ways in which modern medicine can change the course of healthcare in Africa? Explain.
#healthcare #MarburgVirus #Africa
* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.
COMMENTS