Some travelers entering the United States will be tested for a deadly Ebola-like disease amid an unprecedented outbreak in East Africa.
Starting next week, the CDC will test people who have been in Rwanda in the past 21 days for Marburg virus, a deadly infection that kills nearly nine in 10 people.
Passengers from the country affected by the disease will have their trip to the United States diverted to Chicago O’Hare, JFK in New York or Washington Dulles in Virginia, where they will be tested for the virus.
The CDC has sent three scientists to investigate the outbreak in Rwanda that has so far caused a dozen deaths and 46 infections.
Marburg has a mortality rate of up to 90 percent. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus.
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The United States has also sent hundreds of experimental vaccines and therapies to help with the crisis.
Americans are urged not to travel to Rwanda unless essential, and there is now a “level 2” travel warning for the East African country.
Both Marburg and Ebola cause viral hemorrhagic fevers, conditions that can cause internal bleeding and damage multiple organ systems.
Symptoms appear abruptly, including severe headaches, fever, diarrhea, stomach pain, and vomiting. They become more and more serious.
In the early stages of MVD (the disease that causes Marburg) it is very difficult to distinguish it from other tropical diseases, such as Ebola and malaria.
Infected patients become “ghost-like,” often developing sunken eyes and expressionless faces.
But in later stages, bleeding from multiple orifices can occur, including the nose, gums, eyes, and vagina.
Like Ebola, even dead bodies can transmit the virus to people exposed to their fluids.
The disease is transmitted between people through contact with bodily fluids, such as saliva, blood, semen, sweat or feces.
People can also get it by touching towels or surfaces that can also come into contact with an infected person.
There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the disease, which is currently treated with supportive care such as rest, hydration, and oxygen.
Marburg virus (MVD) is initially transmitted to people by fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the body fluids of infected people, surfaces, and materials.
The WHO has evaluated four candidate vaccines for potential use in trials, but only one, made by the nonprofit Sabin Vaccine Institute, has data from early-stage human trials showing it is safe and produces an immune response.
Further testing of vaccines outside of outbreak settings is not possible due to the risks involved.
The Sabin Vaccine Institute said on Saturday it had delivered around 700 doses of its vaccine to Rwanda, to be used in a trial targeting frontline workers, including health professionals.
Marburg virus has only been detected once in the U.S. when a 44-year-old woman from Colorado who had just returned from a two-week safari in Uganda was diagnosed with the disease in 2008.
The woman had visited a fruit bat cave, and the bats were known to harbor the disease. She was hospitalized but made a full recovery.
