Marburg Disease

Marburg is a serious viral haemorrhagic disease.  It is in the same family as Ebola and has a case fatality rate of over 85%. 

Marburg was first reported in 1967 with outbreaks in Germany (Marburg) and Serbia, both associated with laboratory work with African green monkeys from Uganda.

Human infection occurs with exposure to bats.  Human to human transmission occurs through exposure to secretions, organs or bodily fluids from infected individuals.

Case reports and sporadic outbreaks have occurred in a number of countries in Africa. These include Kenya (1990, 1987, 1980), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2000, 1998), Uganda (2017, 2014, 2012, 2007), Angola (2004-2005), Guinea (2021), Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa.  Ghana’s first cases (3) were reported in 2022 and those for Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea in 2023.

There is no vaccine for Marburg disease.

Travellers to an area of risk should understand how the disease is transmitted. Those most at risk are healthcare workers and family members of an infected person.  Certain burial practices can increase the risk of exposure.

Occupations like veterinarians who might handle non-human primates may be at increased risk. 

Contact with bats in caves and mines might increase the risk to travellers.

Raw meat from unknown sources should always be avoided.

A case of Marburg disease was reported in Colorado in 2009.   The 44-year-old woman was hospitalized with an unexplained febrile illness in January 2008. She had previously visited a cave in Uganda. Early testing did not implicate Marburg disease but after a further case was identified in a Dutch tourist, she was retested again a few months later and found to be positive. The cave had already been closed because of the Dutch case.