Ebola virus disease
Joel Breman, Who Helped Stop An Ebola Outbreak In Africa, Dies At 87
Dr. Joel Breman, a specialist in infectious diseases who was a member of the original team that helped combat the Ebola virus in 1976, died on April 6 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by his son, Matthew, who said his father died of complications from kidney cancer.
"We were scared out of our wits," Dr. Breman, recollecting his pioneer mission, told a National Institutes of Health newsletter in 2014, as a new and even deadlier Ebola outbreak raged that year.
Nearly 40 years earlier, his team of five had just landed in the interior of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, at a remote Roman Catholic mission hospital. They were up against a viral infection that had no name, whose origin was unknown, and that was accompanied by high fever and bleeding that led to a painful and quick death.
Dr. Breman, dispatched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had only what he described to the N.I.H. As "the most basic protective equipment" against the disease, in contrast to the full-body spacesuit-like gear that was standard in the later outbreak. He and others on the team, laboring in intense heat and bitten by sand flies, "developed rashes and didn't know if we would catch the virus too," he said.
But he calmly began deploying the techniques he had honed on earlier missions to Africa, on anti-smallpox initiatives in Guinea and Burkina Faso. He interviewed patients and witnesses, traveling from village to village and going from house to house. He and his colleagues, he recalled, soon determined that the infection was "spread by close contact with infected body fluids," and that it had been propagated at a rural hospital that was using unsterilized needles.
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This Kenya Cave, Believed To Be Source Of Ebola, Could Cause Next Pandemic: WHO Issues Warning About Marburg Virus Outbreak
The 600-foot-deep cave has been continuously dug and expanded by elephants, only to have disease-carrying bats make it their home. The world's deadliest cave Kitum, located in Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya, could cause the next pandemic. Read on to know more.The Kitum cave in Mount Elgon National Park, Kenya, is known as the world's deadliest cave. According to the experts, this cave is a house to some of the most deadliest and dangerous viruses, like Ebola and Marburg. In a recent study, experts have cautioned that this cave will be the origin of the next pandemic! The revelation has left healthcare experts worried that the Marburg virus might cause the next big outbreak, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has also issued a warning, stating that the Marburg virus is 'epidemic-prone'. "The 600-foot-deep cave has been continuously dug and expanded by elephants, only to have disease-carrying bats make it their home," the experts were quoted as saying.
What is Marburg Virus Infection?Marburg is an illness marked by bleeding and disruption of bodily functions. It can be deadly, with up to 88 per cent of people dying from it. Speaking to TheHealthSite.Com, an expert stated that, "Marburg virus infection is a grave disease with a high mortality rate that falls under the same family as Ebola virus. Though rare, it's a lethal infection that passes on to humans from fruit bats and propagates through human interactions. Any outbreaks of this illness usually result in high death rates, posing a significant worry for health professionals and society at large globally".
Marburg is a dangerous and lethal virus that is known to be a "highly virulent disease which can trigger hemorrhagic fever." The virus after entering the human body usually lowers the natural functional capacity and affects the cardiovascular system. With a mortality rate of up to 88 per cent, the virus is related to the virus that causes Ebola. Just like coronavirus, this infection can also get transmitted to other people by touching towels or other objects that have come into contact with an infected individual.
Symptoms of Marburg Virus InfectionThe virus takes at least three weeks to "incubate" before a patient starts showing symptoms. "The virus typically remains dormant for at least three weeks before symptoms appear in patients. However, the early signs often mimic those of malaria and Ebola," experts quoted as saying.
Some of the most common warning symptoms of Marburg virus infection include:
As the disease advances, victims may witness severe bleeding from various body parts and organ failure. However, diagnosing this infection is tricky due to its vague symptoms which often result in its late identification and treatment.
Are There Any Vaccines Available? Unfortunately, no vaccines are available for the virus and doctors treat symptoms by medications and fluids.
History Of Marburg VirusMarburg virus first emerged on the radar in 1967 when it caused contagious outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and Belgrade in erstwhile Yugoslavia. The virus primarily transfers from infected animals like fruit bats, its natural vessels, to humans. Upon penetration into the human populace, it multiplies swiftly via close encounters with infected individuals, interaction with body fluids, or contact with contaminated objects.
In the year 1980, during an exploration of Kitum Cave, also known as the killer cave in the books of history, a French engineer working at a nearby sugar mill accidentally came into contact with the Marburg virus. He passed away shortly after being admitted to a hospital in Nairobi. As per reports, the man's fast decline from viral hemorrhagic or blood-letting fever was described in a book about the case as "as if the face is detaching itself from the skull," with his face seeming to hang from the underlying bone as the connective tissue dissolved. In another incident, a few years later, a Danish boy who was on vacation with his family also fell victim to a similar hemorrhagic virus known as Ravn and died, near the same cave.
Our Experience With the COVID-19 PandemicIn the year 2019, the world witnessed the worst virus outbreak in the history of mankind - the COVID-19 pandemic. With continuous monitoring and proper vigilance from healthcare and government efforts, the virus was put under control after 3 long years. However, this new revelation about the Marburg virus causing the next deadly pandemic has left the experts and WHO worried again!
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Believed To Be The Source Of Ebola, This Kenya Cave Could Be Ground Zero For The Next Pandemic
A picturesque, "must visit" site for tourists in Kenya—the Kitum Cave—has an unsettling history: that of being home to some of the deadliest diseases known to humankind.
Located in Kenya's Mount Elgon National Park, the Kitum Cave was reportedly the origin point for the Ebola and Marburg viruses, of which the latter has been termed as 'epidemic-prone' by the World Health Organization (WHO).
But, how did the Ebola and Marburg viruses find a home in the cave? We take a look.
An unsettling past
According to several reports, when the Kitum Cave was initially discovered, scientists found scratches along its walls, which, at the time, were attributed to ancient Egyptian workers scraping the cave walls in search of valuable minerals and gems.
However, that theory was put to the test in the 1980s, after a French engineer from a nearby sugar factory contracted the Marburg virus in the depths of the cave and succumbed shortly afterwards at a Nairobi hospital.
"Connective tissue in his face is dissolving and his face appears to hang from the underlying bone," noted a book, describing the disturbing symptoms endured by the Frenchman prior to his demise from hemorrhagic or blood-letting fever brought about by the Marburg virus.
But the Frenchman wasn't alone: seven years later, the Kitum Cave took its second victim, this time, a Danish school boy who died of a related hemorrhagic virus.
Following the 1980s incidents, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) launched an expedition to the cave, taking precautions and providing the team with pressurised and filtered suits. However, the expedition did not return conclusive results.
It was only later that scientists realised that the minerals found within the cave played a role in it becoming a breeding ground for zoonotic diseases.
The valuable salty minerals found within the cave, it turns out, attracts megafauna, and researchers say that elephants have repeatedly extended the 600-foot-deep cave, thereby making it a haven for disease-carrying bats.
It's precisely these bats which scientists believe to be carriers of viruses such as Ebola and Marburg.
A concerning future?
Although the Marburg virus was discovered decades back, the WHO, in 2021, warned that it was epidemic-prone, and has since taken action to contain local outbreaks.
Belonging to the same family as the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus is highly virulent and attacks the body's cardiovascular system and inhibits the body's ability to function, leading to death in most cases.
In fact, the Marburg virus has an average fatality rate of 50 per cent, with case fatality rates varying from 24 per cent to a whopping 88 per cent. For comparison, Covid-19 had an average fatality rate of approximately 1 per cent, and left over seven million people dead during the pandemic.
What makes the Marburg virus even deadlier is its high transmission rate. Among humans, it is transmitted via direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people, or with surfaces or objects that come into contact with such fluids, thereby making caring for infected patients a very risky proposition for healthcare workers.
Symptoms are even worse. While incubation takes between two to 21 days, initial symptoms include high fever, severe headaches, muscle pains, diarrhoea, and nausea. Later on, many patients also develop hemorrhagic manifestations that result in some form of bleeding, often from multiple orifices. Deaths, when they happen, are preceded by severe loss of blood from hemorrhages and shock.
That being said, the WHO notes that the alarming fatality rate of the Marburg virus can be tempered through good patient care, although there exist no cures or vaccines for the virus.
Should we be worried?
While the transmission rates and symptoms of the Marburg virus make it an extremely dangerous candidate for an epidemic, the WHO, as of now, categorizes it as a low-level risk at national, sub-regional, regional and international levels.
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