Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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- Five people have died and three others are infected with the Marburg virus in Tanzania.
- Marburg virus disease (MVD), earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic fever.
- Marburg, like Ebola, is a filovirus and both diseases are clinically similar.
- Rousettus fruit bats are considered the natural hosts for the Marburg virus.
- However, African green monkeys imported from Uganda were the source of the first human infection.
First detection:
It was first detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and in Belgrade, Serbia.
Fatality rate:
- The disease has an average fatality rate of around 50%.
- However, it can be as low as 24% or as high as 88% depending on virus strain and case management.
Symptoms:
- high fever,
- muscle aches
- severe headache
- abdominal pain,
- vomiting,
- severe watery diarrhoea and cramping.
- bleeding from the nose and gums and
- blood appearing in vomit and faeces.
Treatment:
- It is difficult to clinically distinguish MVD from diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
- It is confirmed by lab testing of samples, which like Coronavirus and Ebola are extreme biohazard risks.
- There is no approved antiviral treatment or vaccine for MVD as of now.
- It can be managed with supportive care.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB
