Marburg hemorrhagic fever (patient information)
|
Marburg hemorrhagic fever |
|
Marburg hemorrhagic fever On the Web |
|---|
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Marburg hemorrhagic fever |
For the WikiDoc page for this topic, click here
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aravind Reddy Kothagadi M.B.B.S[2]
Overview
What are the Symptoms of Marburg hemorrhagic fever?
Signs and symptoms of Marburg hemorrhagic fever share similarities with other infectious diseases such as malaria or typhoid fever. Arrivinng at the diagnosis may be difficult if only one case is involved.
- Symptoms that appear after an incubation period of 5-10 days
- Symptoms that appear after 5th day of onset of symptoms
- Maculopapular rash prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach)
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Chest pain
- Sore throat
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
- Symptoms become increasingly severe may include:
- Jaundice
- Inflammation of the pancreas
- Severe weight loss
- Delirium
- Shock
- Liver failure
- Massive hemorrhaging
- Multi-organ dysfunction
What Causes Marburg hemorrhagic fever?
- Marburg hemorrhagic fever is caused by Marburg virus. It is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the Filoviridae family of viruses and a member of the species Marburg marburgvirus, genus Marburgvirus. Marburg virus (MARV) causes Marburg virus disease in humans and nonhuman primates, a form of viral hemorrhagic fever. The virus is considered to be extremely dangerous.
Who is at Highest Risk?
- Close contacts such as family members and hospital staff who haven't used proper barrier nursing techniques
- Veterinarians and laboratory or quarantine facility workers handling non-human primates from Africa
- Travelers visiting endemic regions in Africa, including Uganda and other parts of central Africa, and have contact with fruit bats, or enter caves or mines inhabited by fruit bats.
Diagnosis
- Diagnosis may be established by the following tests to confirm a case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever within a few days of onset of symptoms:
- For persons later in the course of disease or after recovery testing by IgG-capture ELISA is preferred.
- Virus isolation may also be done but with extreme caution and well-equipped facility.
- In case of deceased patients, laboratory techniques such as immunohistochemistry, virus isolation, or PCR of blood or tissue specimens may be performed in order to confirm the cause of death.
When to Seek Urgent Medical Care?
- Seek urgent medical care if you experience any of the symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or cramping, persistent severe watery diarrhea, severe malaise, muscle aches, red eyes, raised rash and bruising.
Treatment Options
Where to find Medical Care for Marburg hemorrhagic fever?
Medical care for Marburg hemorrhagic fever can be found here.
Prevention
No specific treatment or vaccine is yet available for Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Several vaccine candidates are being tested but it could be several years before any are available. New drug therapies have shown promising results in laboratory studies and are currently being evaluated. One way to protect against infection is avoiding fruit bats, and sick non-human primates in central Africa. Reducing the risk of infection to people include reducing the risk of bat-to-human transmission as well as human-to-human transmission, health education and, outbreak containment measures.
What to Expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?
Possible Complications
Sources
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000434.htm