Viral hemorrhagic fevers

In class we talked about viral hemorrhagic fevers caused by Marburg virus and Ebola virus. The diseases caused by these viruses are very scary but rare. There are no known vaccines or cures and the disease progresses quickly and can lead to death. Human to human transmission has been shown death rates approach 90%. The rapidly progressing disease is unpleasant to say the least, vomiting, diarrhea, and hemorrhaging.

A little more on the Marburg virus, it was first isolated in 1967 in Germany. Since 1967 most outbreaks have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a zoonotic disease that has been shown to have at least bats as one reservoir it is unknown if other hosts exist. The structure of Marburg is a filamentous viral structure.

Currently work is progressing on vaccine development because it is such a deadly virus that can be used for bioterrorism. The first vaccine attempts which failed were using inactivated virus. Recombinant glycoprotein vaccine attempts were protective in some animal models but protection was incomplete in NHP. Current approaches that are showing progress are the use of viral vectors using either replication-defective adenoviral vectors or recombinant VSV expressing MARV GP.  Because of the lack of treatment and ability to spread from human to human this is a dangerous virus to work and requires BSL-4 safety precautions. But because it is a rare disease it is not one that most should worry about.

Forty-Five Years of Marburg Virus Research

Kristina Brauburger,† Adam J. Hume,† Elke Mühlberger,†* and Judith Olejnik†

Viruses. 2012 October; 4(10): 1878–1927.