The above comment on the number of patients in the hospital is a misconception in many of the media reports. Marburg virus is killing over 90% of those infected. The number of known cases in the hospital is small, because over 90% of those infected have died. If there were 132 infected patients in the hospital, 20 to 40 per day would be dying. Instead only a handful are admitted each day, and a handful are dying each day, because most of those infected have already died.
As noted in the WHO announcement of March 23, 2005 after the Marburg virus was identified:
"Retrospective analysis has now identified 102 cases in the outbreak, which dates back to October 2004. Of these case, 95 have been fatal." Thus, the fatality rate based on those numbers is 93%. However, the true rate is near 100%, because the latest cases have not been sick long enough to die.
There have been no recent reports of any Marburg infected patients in Angola who have recovered.
Those still alive are still in the hospital. The latest numbers indicate 121 out of 132 have died. That means there are only a handful who have been diagnosed with Marburg and are still alive. It does not mean 132 are still in the hospital being treated.
Patients have only been living a few days in the hospital. The daily death toll would be markedly higher if there were 132 hospitalized patients infected with the Ebola-like Marburg virus. The virus has also taken a toll on healthcare workers. Six nurses and two physicians have died, as they try to treat patients, but lack basic barriers such as gloves, gowns, and masks.
Marburg also appears to have been transmitted in Angola's capital, Luanda, which has an international airport, raising concerns of further spread.
MA
Bad omen...
Hemmoragic (sp?) fevers like Ebola and Marburg are really nasty. If I understand the nature of these diseases, even top-of-the-line medical care is generally ineffective. With the horrible medical care available in that part of the world, the only thing that can be done in many cases is to quarantine the area until the virus runs its course.
Those poor people. It seems like that part of the world gets hit with diseases like this. I wonder how long it*s going to take something like this to arrive in America? We*ve been fortunate so far, but the way people fly all over the world it could be here before we know it.
I thought Marburg was a bit less fatal that Ebola. (It's also shorter in length.) Unless something happened recently, the vector is still unknown for both.
Ken Alibek had some chilling accounts of Soviet experience with Marburg via bio weapon work. Truly nasty stuff if it ever got into the wrong hands.
I'm sorry to say it, but if WHO and our CDC spent as much time, money, and effort dealing with things such as this, instead of stupid stuff maybe you wouldn't be posting so many of these type articles.
Please don't get me wrong - I for one, truly appreciate seeing this information........I'm just fed up with the bureaucracies that were (allegedly) created to deal with controlling contagious diseases that are now more interested in curbing (bad) habits instead of finding cures, or at least controlling communicable diseases.