Marburg Virus Disease(Disease Index)

What is Marburg virus disease? 

Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a haemorrhagic fever (MHF) caused by a filovirus. Though caused by different viruses, Ebola virus disease (EVD) and MVD are clinically similar. Transmission of the Marburg virus (MARV) is through spillover from specific bat species (particulary Egyptian Rousette bats), which acts as the natural host of the virus, to people. The exact mode of this transmission is not fully understood yet. The virus can then spread from person-to-person through close and direct contact with blood, and body fluids from infected persons. Transmission via infected semen from recovered persons up to seven weeks after recovery have been documented, albeit rarely. Since the first report of a MVD outbreak in 1967, a total of 19 outbreaks involving roughly 600 laboratory confirmed cases in total and from different African countries. Since 2021, MVD outbreaks have been reported in several countries where the disease was not reported before, including Guinea, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Ethiopia.