Global public health officials are keeping a watch on the development of a deadly virus known as “bleeding eye disease”. So, what precisely is it?
As of November 29, an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) in Rwanda had infected at least 66 people and killed 15 others, according to a Ministry of Health statement.
MVD, which is frequently fatal and is connected to the far more well-known Ebola virus, is also known as “bleeding eye disease” because it affects people’s blood vessels, causing them to bleed from numerous orifices, including their eyes.
In October, the WHO issued a warning against all travel to Rwanda, while the UK’s national public health service advised visitors to avoid a variety of activities such as participating in funeral ceremonies or coming into touch with wildlife.
The outbreak appears to have slowed, with November 29 marking 28 days without a new case and 22 days since the last patient was discharged from the hospital, despite the long incubation period, according to Rwandan officials.
However, the disease is only one of numerous viruses that have alarmed global health experts in recent weeks, with further cases of monkeypox (commonly abbreviated as “Mpox”) discovered in the United Kingdom and California.
Ebola’s nasty twin
Scientists initially described the Marburg virus in 1967, following an outbreak in the German cities of Marburg and Frankfurt, as well as in the then-Yugoslav capital Belgrade.
It belongs to the filovirus family of microorganisms, which also contains the deadly Ebola virus. According to the UK’s government-run Travel Health Pro website, the two are “clinically almost indistinguishable”.
MVD is hypothesised to be transmitted to people by fruit bats and can incubate in a person’s body without causing symptoms for up to 21 days (the average is five to nine days).
After up to five days of fever, patients’ blood vessels begin to deteriorate, resulting in internal bleeding, psychological symptoms like bewilderment and anger, and continuous bleeding from the nose, gums, vagina, eyes, mouth, or ears.
Without treatment, it is frequently fatal, with a case fatality rate of approximately 62%. For this reason, the WHO has classed MVD as having a high pandemic potential.
Although no specific antiviral medicine has been shown to be successful, a possible vaccine is being developed and has been tested on over 1,500 health workers in Rwanda as part of a clinical trial.