Ebola virus and Marburg virus

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Definition

Ebola virus and Marburg virus are related viruses that cause severe, often fatal, disease. Ebola virus and Marburg virus originate primarily in the tropical forests of Africa and cause hemorrhagic fevers that can lead to extensive bleeding (hemorrhage), organ failure and shock. Ebola virus and Marburg virus initially move from animals to humans, then can spread from person to person through direct contact with blood and other body fluids.

The first reported cases of hemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus were in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Sudan in 1976. Outbreaks in the 1990s and early 2000s also occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

Public health officials identified the Marburg virus in 1967, when laboratory workers in Marburg, Germany, developed hemorrhagic fever after handling infected African green monkeys. Since then, limited outbreaks of Marburg infection have occurred sporadically in southern and eastern Africa.

No treatment or vaccines are available for hemorrhagic fevers caused by the Ebola virus and the Marburg virus. But for most people, the risk of infection is extremely low.

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Symptoms