Killer virus which has killed 9 arrives in Europe with first cases confirmed (original) (raw)

A killer virus which has claimed the lives of NINE has officially arrived in Europe. The first cases of the deadly Marburg virus have been suspected in the European Union as a 26-year-old medical student who had recently returned from Rwanda and his girlfriend fell ill at Hamburg train station.

Emergency crews in full protective gear boarded a train from Frankfurt after a 26-year-old medical student and his girlfriend developed flu-like symptoms on the train. Passengers were evacuated and police closed two tracks at the station for several hours before reopening them.

According to the Hamburg Fire Department, one of the two suspected Marburg victims also suffered from mild vomiting. “He then called the fire department because he suspected something was wrong,” a spokesperson told the Die Welt newspaper.

The student had arrived by plane directly from Rwanda, where he’d been in contact with a patient who was later diagnosed as infected with Marburg. Marburg is a virus from the same family as Ebola. It causes a haemorrhagic fever and has an average fatality rate of 50%, according to the WHO, although rates have been as high as 88% in previous outbreaks. Early clinical care and rehydration can improve survival, the U.N. health agency says.

Symptoms typically include a sudden high fever and extreme headache, as well as vomiting and diarrhea, following by uncontrolled bleeding. The student and his girlfriend were taken to the Eppendorf University Hospital, which specializes in tropical diseases. Their luggage was impounded.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for Marburg, but there are a number of promising candidates that could begin trials soon, Rwanda's health minister has said. These include vaccine candidates developed by non-profit organizations including the Sabin Vaccine Institute, which has said it is working with Rwandan officials on the outbreak, as well as the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

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