An 81-year-old man in Asti was admitted to the Cardinal Massaia Hospital with suspicious symptoms referring Marburg hemorrhagic fever: the elderly are in the infectious diseases unit, monitored 24 hours a day and kept isolated from other patients to avoid infection. The concern arose from the fact that the man, upon arriving at the emergency room with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, stated that he had just returned from a trip to Ethiopia.
Hospital records
“During the visit he mentioned that he had visited an area in an African country that they had visited an outbreak of dengue fever was reported“, Asti Hospital explained in a note. “The patient is in stable condition from a clinical point of view, but considering his travel plans and emerging symptoms, to protect his safety and for preventive purposes, the Medical Management immediately activated all precautionary and isolation measures, thereby avoiding contact with other patients.”
From the first sample sent to the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, there was a suspicion that it was Marburg fever, but the Rome Hospital will carry out a diagnostic examination to confirm whether it is or not. “The local alert chain has been activated with SISP, regional with DIRMEI, and national with Spallanzani. If the diagnosis is confirmed, the patient will be transferred to a facility with appropriate safety measures.”.
What is Marburg fever
As the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) explains, that is one thing severe disease caused by the RNA virus Marburgvirus (Marv), from the Filoviridae family, which also includes the Ebola virus but the two pathogens are antigenically different. “The reservoir for Marburg virus is the African fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Infected fruit bats show no obvious signs of disease. Further research is needed to determine whether other species can also host this virus.” ISS report. In recent years, outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, but all outbreaks recorded so far in the world have originated in Africa.
What are the symptoms?
The incubation of this virus can last approximately eight days (but can even reach 21 days): the affected patient begins to suffer fever, headache, chest pain to which they are also added digestive problems (from vomiting to diarrhea) and in some cases too skin rash. In more serious cases, bleeding such as epistaxis (nosebleeds) but also bleeding from the mouth and rectum may occur, neurological symptoms may occur (disorientation, seizures, coma) and multi-organ systemic failure.
Available therapies
At the moment there is no specific vaccine And There isn’t even a special drug against Marburg virus: as described in the MSD Manual, there are supportive therapies to manage symptoms with maintenance of blood volume and electrolyte balance, replacement of reduced clotting factors, reduction of invasive procedures and treatment of symptoms including the use of analgesics.
“Experimental treatments for Marburg virus infection, including antiviral drugs (favipiravir, remdesivir), polyclonal IgG, and monoclonal antibodies, are being studied but no definitive treatment is available.”
