Marburg virus travel ban: Travel warning as incurable disease spreads into Europe - what is the virus and how dangerous is it?

The highly contagious virus similar to Ebola, called Marburg virus, has killed eight people so far in Rwanda and experts warn that it may have reached Europe. Rwanda says eight people have died so far from Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment. Based on the current risk assessment, WHO advises against any travel and trade restrictions with Rwanda.

It has also warned that there is a risk of spread beyond East Africa. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told The Sun this outbreak of Marburg could "crop up in any country globally". He told the newspaper: "The incubation period is between five and 15 days, plenty long enough for someone to get on a plane and fly anywhere in the world.”

Previous outbreaks have seen around half of those infected die, though in places where health care is poor, that has risen to nearly 90 per cent. According to reports, the nine European cases are in Belgium. However, it is reported that if the Marburg virus was brought over to Europe or the UK, the chance of it spreading would be small as the disease is spreading easily in hospitals in Africa because they don’t have the infection prevention resources we have in the West.

Marburg virus jumps to humans from fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids like blood, saliva, and mucus. Symptoms include high fever, intense headaches, muscle pain, diarrhoea, and vomiting. In severe cases, death can result from massive blood loss from different parts of the body, including the eyes.

There are no approved treatments yet, but one vaccine is being trialled. Rwanda has urged the public to stay alert, practice good hygiene, and report any suspected cases.

The first outbreaks occurred in 1967 in lab workers in Germany and Yugoslavia who were working with African green monkeys imported from Uganda. The virus was identified in a lab in Marburg, Germany. Since then, outbreaks have occurred in a handful of countries in Africa, less frequently than Ebola.

Marburg’s natural host is a fruit bat, but it can also infect primates, pigs and other animals. Human outbreaks start after a person has contact with an infected animal. It’s spread between people mainly through direct contact, especially with bodily fluids, and it causes an illness like Ebola, with fever, headache and malaise, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, and aches and pains.