Uganda Confirms New Outbreak of Marburg Virus
Pastor Dale Morgan
Uganda Confirms New Outbreak of Marburg Virus*
By KATY POWNALL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 3, 2007; 4:42 PM
KAMPALA, Uganda -- A miner who guided scientists to a mine believed to
have been the source of an Ebola-like outbreak has contracted the
disease, health officials said Wednesday.
Ministry of Health spokesman Paul Kagwa urged the public to remain calm
following the emergence of a new case two months after the outbreak was
declared contained, and cautioned miners to avoid re-entering the mine.
Guards were posted at entrances to the mine, which has been closed since
June, he said.
The Marburg virus, a rare hemorrhagic illness, killed a gold miner in
Kitaka, about 100 miles west of the country's capital, Kampala. Another
29-year-old miner died of the illness at the same mine in June.
The latest victim, now being treated in an isolation war near the mine,
"was guiding a team of scientists who were taking samples from bats in
the gold mine," Kagwa told the Associated Press.
According to the World Health Organization, the patient was wearing
complete head-to-toe protective equipment when he helped international
scientists investigate the source of the Marburg outbreak in the mine.
"We think that he must have sneaked back into the mine without wearing
his protective clothing," Kagwa said.
Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman, said the victim's "prognosis is as good
as can be expected for Marburg. Hartl said that the patient developed
symptoms on September 17, and now appears to have a healthy supply of
antibodies.
Since Marburg was first identified in miners at the site in June, only
virus hunters swathed in protective gear are supposed to have entered
the mine in search of the bats they believe may have been the source of
the outbreak.
"The analysis team have completed their ecological studies and we are
now awaiting the results from the samples they took," Kagwa said.
Marburg has a death rate that can be higher than 90 percent and no
treatment or vaccine. The disease can cause headaches, nausea, diarrhea
and vomiting. In severe cases, the central nervous system is attacked,
and patients may bleed from the eyes, ears and elsewhere.
Since Marburg was first identified in 1967, large outbreaks have been
reported in Congo, Angola and elsewhere.
Scientists are not sure how it is transmitted to humans, but believe
people may become infected by being bitten by bats or by insects or
other animals that have been infected by bats. Another possibility is
that people catch it by breathing in air carrying virus particles from
bat feces.