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Context:  

An outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) has killed at least 15 people and infected at least 66 in Rwanda.

About Rwanda:

It is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge.

Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the sobriquet "land of a thousand hills."

Rwanda's economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops that it exports.

Capital: Kigali.

Rivers:  Rusizi River, Nile.

Lakes:  Lake Victoria, Lake Kivu, Lake Tanganyika. Other sizeable lakes include Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi, Rweru, and Ihema.

The highest peaks are found in the Virunga volcano chain in the northwest; this includes Mount Karisimbi.

Climate: Rwanda has a temperate tropical highland climate, with lower temperatures than are typical for equatorial countries because of its high elevation.

Rwanda contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Albertine Rift montane forests, Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic, and Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands.

Marburg-Ebola’s lesser-known twin

Marburg belongs to the filovirus family, like the much better-known Ebola. Both pathogens are clinically similar, and although rare, can cause outbreaks with high fatality rates.

The first recognised MVD outbreak occurred in the town of Marburg in Germany in 1967. Since then, subsequent outbreaks have been mostly reported across Africa, most recently in Tanzania, Ghana, and now Rwanda.

The World Health Organisation has put MVD in a list of pathogens that pose the greatest threat to public health, and do not have adequate drugs and vaccines against them.

Spread:

Initially, human MVD infections were caused by prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by colonies of Rousettus bats, most notably the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus).

The virus also spreads through human-to-human contact: both directly (through contact with blood and other bodily fluids of infected people), and indirectly (through surfaces and materials like bedding, clothing, etc. contaminated with these fluids).

Symptoms:

The interval between infection and onset of symptoms varies from 2 to 21 days. Initial symptoms include high fever, severe headache, muscle ache, severe watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramping, and vomiting.

Treatment:

Currently, there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for MVD. According to WHO, supportive care — rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids — and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival.

Source:

Indian Express