First case of Marburg in the USA
There is a class of disease called hemorrhagic fever that is just not nice to catch. Ebola is one of the more commonly known ones -- you generally loose blood and body fluids from every orifice until you die. Highly contagious too -- couldn't have picked a nastier bug if you had tried.
Marburg is a much rarer disease but we got a case in Colorado.
From
Google/Associated Press:
1st US case of Marburg fever confirmed in Colo.
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (AP) � The first U.S. case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in Colorado, and authorities say the patient � who contracted the rare illness while traveling in Uganda � has since recovered.
The disease, caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, spreads through contact with infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Dave Daigle said no previous cases have been reported in the United States.
The patient had traveled to Uganda, visited a python cave in Maramagambo Forest in Queen Elizabeth Park and encountered fruit bats, which can carry the Marburg virus. The Ugandan government closed the cave after a tourist from the Netherlands died from Marburg in July.
The patient was treated at Lutheran Medical Center in January 2008 and sought follow-up care in July, after learning of the tourist's death. The patient recovered and his or her identity wasn't disclosed.
Pierre Rollin, acting chief of the Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC, said specialized tests of the initial sample taken in January 2008 confirmed the illness in the Colorado patient in December.
I don't think I'll be travelling to Uganda anytime soon...
Posted by DaveH at February 9, 2009 7:52 PM