Flying foxes vector

Rwanda finds origin of Marburg virus outbreak

Microscopic image of the Marburg virus, which causes Marburg fever.(Bild: APA/dpa/Bernhard-Nocht-Institut)

According to the African country's Ministry of Health, the outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda was caused by transmission from fruit bats to humans. The pathogen causes Marburg fever, a disease with a high mortality rate.

"We have succeeded in tracing the origin of the outbreak and established that it was caused by a zoonosis," said Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimina during a press conference in the capital Kigali.

Fruit bats as carriers of the pathogen
The index case could be traced back to a cave with fruit bats, close to a mining site. This led to contact between workers and fruit bats, according to Nsanzimina.

On September 27, the East African country reported an outbreak of the Marburg virus, which can cause high fever and symptoms such as muscle pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and bloody vomiting. The symptoms usually appear five to ten days after infection.

According to the Rwandan Ministry of Health, a total of 65 people had been infected by October 26, 15 of whom have died so far. Three patients are still undergoing treatment, it is reported.

Virus with high mortality rate
Like the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus belongs to the Filoviridae group. It can cause a severe clinical picture, with symptoms of hemorrhagic fever and a mortality rate of between 22 and 90 percent. Almost all documented cases to date have occurred on the African continent.

The pathogen bears the name of the city of Marburg in the German state of Hesse, because laboratory workers there were infected with the previously unknown virus in 1967 in laboratory monkeys. A total of 29 people were infected at the time, seven of whom died.