PROFILE OF A PATHOGEN Marburg virus
12—Prognosis
This is one of those viruses that keep people awake at night. The Marburg virus (MARV) causes Marburg haemorrhagic fever (Marburg HF). Haemorrhagic fevers cause the patient to bleed profusely from the body’s orifices and Marburg HF is an extremely severe form. Though the first known crossing of the virus from animal to human was via monkeys, the host of this particular virus is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, which show no obvious signs of illness when infected. Marburg HF is a filovirus belonging to a group of viruses called Filoviridae, which cause severe haemorrhagic fever. It is fatal in both humans and nonhuman primates. So far, three genera of this virus family have been identified: Ebola virus, Cueva virus and Marburg virus. It was first encountered in Germany and
Haemorrhagic fever A general term for a severe illness, often associated with bleeding, that can be caused by a number of viruses. Barrier nursing A set of stringent infection control techniques used to protect medical staff against infection by patients. Blood clotting factors A group of proteins found in the blood that are essential to blood clot formation.
