Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, said on Saturday that six fatalities were linked to a Marburg virus epidemic. At the moment, around twenty patients—mostly medical professionals—are undergoing therapy. Authorities are searching for and testing everyone who could come into contact with a sick person.

Let’s examine the fatal illness that is generating a stir in Rwanda.

What is the virus known as Marburg?
Like Ebola, Marburg virus illness is a highly infectious infection. It has a fatality rate of up to 88% and may cause severe hemorrhagic fever. It started in 1967 and has since spread fatally to Frankfurt, Germany; Marburg, Germany; and Belgrade, Serbia.

African fruit bats are thought to be the virus’s presumed host since they carry the disease without exhibiting any symptoms. Transmission from bats to primates, including humans, may happen, and it can then spread by direct contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids.

Symptoms and Indications
Individuals with the Marburg virus may go through:

severe headache, high temperature, and muscle aches
acute malaise
extreme watery diarrhea cramps in the abdomen
feeling sick and throwing up
Exists a therapy program?
As of right now, the Marburg virus sickness has a cure. Nonetheless, several experimental treatments are being conducted to identify an antiviral remedy for this virus.

Do Indians Need to Worry?
The director of internal medicine at Medanta in Gurugram, Dr. Sushila Kataria, told IANS that Indians shouldn’t be concerned since the virus has been confined. Indians need not be concerned since the virus has already been controlled. Furthermore, the spread may be stopped if stringent measures are implemented and followed to manage infections. Because 30 to 80 percent of people affected pass away, the disease’s ability to spread is restricted. Bats may transmit the virus by their excretions, urine, or both. Along with contaminated surfaces and objects, HPV may also spread via direct contact with the blood, saliva, organs, or other body fluids of infected individuals. Fortunately, its spread is limited since it doesn’t travel via the air.