Marburg Disease Outbreak Paper

For my outbreak paper, I wanted to choose an existing disease that was extremely deadly and find possible scenarios of this disease’s transmission to the US. The disease I chose is called Marburg disease. I chose this disease because of its similarities to Ebola, which is also a very known deadly disease. Marburg has a high mortality rate, and fast progression form being healthy to being on your death bed. To create an outbreak for Marburg we need to understand the epidemiology of the disease including where it is from, how it moves, and if there are any treatments to prevent this disease. Unfortunately, Marburg was discovered accidently by trying to find a vaccine for polio.

Marburg was first dated in 1967 when the outbreak of hemorrhagic

The incubation period for Marburg disease is 3 to 9 days, however the disease is similar to those of other infectious diseases such as typhoid or malaria making the disease hard to diagnose. Without proper testing equipment for the disease this means an infected person can die within a matter of days. Therefore, places like Uganda, Angola, and DRC have more cases of Marburg virus than any other countries. Tracking the virus down to its roots has been a difficult challenge for WHO doctors considering they are only called after the epidemic has

We can now create a potential outbreak of Marburg Virus. Considering the transmission mode includes bodily fluids contact, our index cases include a couple scenarios. One scenarios include a person who is on a mission trip to Kenya and decided to visit a national Park like Mount Elgon. Tourist who come to these parks will adventure the caves which has fruit bats. As we learned earlier the African fruit bats are reservoirs for the Marburg Virus. There are report that date in 1980 and 1987 where people have visited the Kitum Cave in Kenya and contracted the virus and have died with 9 to 10 days after onset symptoms. In my outbreak I have two people who are on a mission trip and visit the Kitum Cave in Kenya. They visit the cave on their second to last day of their trip, and have came in contact of the fruit bats, not knowing the virus is within the bats. The two people then travel back to the US, and in my choice, they travel back to Indiana. When they do travel back to Indiana it has probably been two to three days since first contact of the bats and no signs of symptoms. This is where I think Marburg can be a deadly outbreak if we do not pay attention to details. The two people who visited the cave in Kenya then visit the caves in Indiana like Marengo within two days after getting back. If there are any bats in the cave what are the possibilities of the virus being