Posted on 02/07/2009 10:58:29 AM PST by george76
The first known case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in the United States was treated at Lutheran Medical Center in January 2008, it was announced Friday.
The disease, which is caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, is transmitted by contact with infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans.
The patient, who was not identified, had apparently contracted the virus when he visited Uganda.
While in that country, he had visited a python cave in Maramagambo Forest in Queen Elizabeth Park, where he came into contact with fruit bats, which are capable of harboring the Marburg virus.
The CDC found in the repeat testing that the man had Marburg hemorrhagic fever...
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Marburg virus is indigenous to Africa and is found in infected animals, such as green monkeys.
The virus takes 5-10 days to incubate but the onset of the disease is sudden. Initial symptoms include fever, chills, headache and muscle pain.
However, after five days, a rash develops on the back, chest and stomach. The patient also starts experiencing nausea, vomiting, chest pain, sore throat, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Symptoms later become severe, which may include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure and multi-organ dysfunction. The disease can be fatal.
Since the disease can be spread by contact with infectious bodily fluids, like getting splashed by a blood drop, medical caregivers are advised to wear protective gowns, gloves and masks.
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
“How many people infected on the flight back?”
How many people could a terrorist infect walking around New York for 5-days?
>> The patient ... had visited a python cave in Maramagambo Forest
Damn, you can’t make this stuff up. Denver has a large legal (they won the lottery) immigrant African population - Ethopians, Eritreans, Ghanians, Nigerian, Ivory Coast, etc. From what I know from living there 30+ years ago, and my current friendship with many of them, I suspect the victim is a pasty white People’s Republic of Boulder bunny hugger.
Nice of CDC to mention this a year after the fact...
I read it! It makes you want to get a bio-hazard suit and wear it all the time! Just in case!
Especially when traveling by air.
FMCDH(BITS)
They mixed the Marburg with something else (remember the birds dying?).
I loved that show.
Fortunately, probably none. Marburg is spread by contact with infected fluids, and usually those with a high virus concentration. From WHO's web page: "Infection through casual contact is thought to be exceedingly rare. The low rate of transmission to persons with casual contact suggests that aerosol transmission via the respiratory tract is not efficient, if it occurs at all."
So yes, scary story, but it sounds like the hospital workers followed good infection control procedures from the start, and no one else was infected. Amazing that the infected person survived, though - I thought mortality for Marburg was very high, but checking today, I find figures of 25-35%. Better supportive treatment, I guess.
The CDC tested for specific immunoglobulins known as IgG antibodies found in survivors of Marberg infections. IgG antibodies confer long term immunity. IgG antibodies are not a significant part of a vertebrate's initial immune response. They are not usually detected for a number of weeks after initial infection in humans, IIRC.
Lutheran Hospital officials said that when the patient first came in, the medical staff "followed the protocols for dealing with an unknown infection, including contact isolation (gown and glove) and testing for a number of infectious, with some of the tests being performed at the CDC."
It was not clear Friday why the initial CDC tests did not reveal the virus.
IMHO, initial tests lack the specificity of IgG antibodies. It was too soon to test for IgG antibodies. Any corrections or updates to my knowledge of microbiology and immunology are always appreciated.
The diagnostics for filoviruses follow a process. The first diagnosis is made by clinical assessment, which is basically a physician properly identifying the symptoms of the patient with those of the virus (EBOV & MARV), and determining that the patient has traveled to a location where contact with these viruses could occur.
Bodily fluids can be examined and the virus or inclusion bodies can be identified in patients having relatively high viremia. These early results are not always accurate because results can be difficult to read. Once the virus has been observed it can be cultured, which requires 3-10 days.
Immunoassay tests such as ELISA and PCR (there are several) can be used to identify IgG and IgM antibodies, as you said. These tests can be conducted in a matter of hours and can be used to confirm the initial observations. However, they are dependent on a sufficient immune response, which may not always occur. In the very virulent strains, the patient will often die, before a significant immune response occurs.
My guess is that there was more than one diagnostic measure used to confirm the initial diagnosis. While one test might might not have provided conclusive evidence, the addition of other results might create a definitive diagnosis.
Sounds like the medical community and CDC did a good job on this one.
Thanks geo. Get outta Denver, baby, go.
Cancelling my trip to the python cave in Maramagambo Forest
Uganda tourist dies of Ebola-like fever
Updated 7/11/2008
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch woman has died from Marburg fever, a rare Ebola-like virus she is thought to have caught from bats while touring caves in Uganda, hospital officials said Friday.
To avoid an outbreak of the highly contagious disease, health authorities said they have been in touch with everyone known to have had contact with the 40-year-old woman since she returned to the Netherlands at the end of June.
So far, no one else has reported symptoms, said the National Institute for Public Health and Environment.
It is the first known case of a tourist catching Marburg virus. Previous outbreaks of the disease have largely struck African miners and hunters.
The World Health Organization said no effort was made to notify passengers on the plane who flew with her from Uganda. The virus has an incubation period of five to 10 days.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-11-ebola-tourist_N.htm
It is related. One of these days it is going to take hold here.
Thanks FN.
Plum Island is being moved to Manhattan, Kansas. Governor Ktty Kat Sibelius thinks she is getting good jobs and an improvement in govt. funding. She doesn't count on escaping monkeys and mice as a problem like they have been in the past at Plum Island....
I cant imagine the suffering this person went through with such horrible virus.
I rarely get the flu but had it bad last Dec. and my thought was good God if this is how the flu feels I dont think I could suffer through something like the Marburg (sic) Virus. EEEshhh.
Yes, both Marburg and Ebola are a type of filovirus.
Marburg and Ebola are filoviruses. Marburg was first seen in 1967 in an outbreak in Germany and later on Yugoslavia. There have been cases in 1975 in Zimbabwe, 1980 in Kenya (It’s well documented in The Hot Zone), 1982 in South Africa, and 1987 in Kenya (Also in The Hot Zone). There have been Marburg outbreaks in 1998-2000 and 2004-2005. No one knows where filoviruses come from, but likely bats are the carriers.
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