Suspected Marburg virus cases in Germany ruled out after negative tests – Euractiv

The 2 people reportedly flew from Rwanda to Frankfurt am Essential in a single day on Tuesday earlier than persevering with by prepare to the northern metropolis of Hamburg. Considered one of them contacted medical doctors throughout the journey, fearing he may need contracted a tropical illness in Rwanda.

Based on constant media reviews, the person is a medical scholar in his mid-20s.

It was reported that the people may have contracted the Marburg virus throughout the journey, however the Hamburg Social Authority, which additionally oversees well being issues, stated their assessments got here again detrimental.

“The detrimental check outcomes and the absence of signs throughout the journey rule out any hazard to 3rd events. The detrimental check confirms that no viruses had been current. Consequently, there was by no means any danger of an infection with the Marburg virus for both the flight or prepare passengers,” a spokesperson for the Social Authority advised Euractiv through electronic mail.

The Marburg virus causes extreme haemorrhagic fever, with signs together with muscle ache, belly cramps, diarrhoea, and bloody vomiting. Based on the WHO, earlier outbreaks of the virus had fatality charges starting from 24% to 88%.

A sigh of reduction

The outbreak of the damaging viral illness was introduced in Rwanda on the finish of September. It stays unclear the place and when the outbreak started, however as of 1 October, some 36 instances had been reported, with 11 deaths and 25 being handled in isolation, in response to the nation’s Well being Ministry.

Rwanda, one in all Africa’s smallest and most densely populated international locations, borders Tanzania, which reported instances of the virus in 2023, and Uganda, which noticed related instances in 2017.

The information precipitated concern as a result of pace at which sufferers had been identified, as it may possibly take as much as 21 days earlier than individuals exhibit signs. This implies consultants are involved there might be extra instances forthcoming, rising fears of a possible pandemic danger.

The Marburg virus

The virus belongs to the identical household as Ebola and is first transmitted from bats or monkeys to people, however can then be handed from human to human.

Not like flu or coronaviruses, it’s not airborne, and an infection happens via direct contact with the bodily fluids of contaminated people, equivalent to blood or bodily fluids, in addition to contaminated surfaces and supplies, equivalent to bedding or clothes.

The incubation interval ranges from two to 21 days, and there’s at the moment no focused therapy or vaccine.

The primary recognized outbreak occurred in 1967 in Marburg, Germany, when 29 laboratory staff had been contaminated by monkeys utilized in experiments, seven of whom died. The virus was subsequently named after the town.

[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe]