How is the Marburg virus contagious?
The rare dengue virus was originally transmitted from fruit bats to humans, the WHO said. Bats are the natural host of the Marburg virus, and humans can become infected with prolonged contact with mines or caves inhabited by colonies of Rousettus bats.
Person-to-person transmission is by direct contact or droplets of blood, sweat, saliva and other secretions.
Contaminated clothing and bedding, and burial rituals that involve direct contact with the deceased also increase the risk of infection.
Healthcare workers are frequently infected when treating patients with the Marburg virus.
Bats are the natural host of the Marburg virus. (Image: Getty)
Vaccines and treatments?
There is currently no vaccine or treatment against the Marburg virus. However, good medical care can also significantly improve the cure rate for patients with this virus.
WHO said: “A wide range of potential treatments, including blood products, immunotherapy and drug therapies, as well as vaccine candidates with initial trial data, are being studied for the Marburg vaccine.”
How is the Marburg virus similar to Ebola?
Marburg and Ebola are both caused by viruses that belong to the same family of filoviruses. Patients have similar clinical features.
Professor Jimmy Whitworth, an expert in infectious diseases at the London School of Tropical Medicine (UK), said: “Marburg and Ebola share similar clinical features – high fever, muscle pain, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and uncontrolled bleeding.”
He said that the Marburg virus is also spread like Ebola, through “very close contact and touching bodily fluids”.