Health officials in the U.S. are set to screen passengers flying from Rwanda for symptoms of Marburg virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a statement said, “Starting mid-October, airline passengers who have been in Rwanda in the last 21 days will have their travel to the United States rerouted” to one of three airports: Chicago O’Hare, JFK in New York and Washington Dulles in suburban Virginia. The statement also said that the passengers landing at one of those airports will have to meet with CDC staffers for temperature checks and assessments of any other visible symptoms, such as sore throat, vomiting or rashes that often appear on the torso. The screenings are set to begin the week of October 14, according to a report in NBC News.
Marburg virus disease (MVD) is an illness that has a fatality ratio of up to 88% but can be much lower with good patient care. The symptoms start flu-like but can progress to severe vomiting, bleeding and neurological (brain and nerve) issues. Outbreaks usually start by spreading from bats or primates (like monkeys) to humans.
From there, it can spread from human to human and cause outbreaks. The virus was initially detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a viral hemorrhagic fever or a virus that damages blood vessels and causes bleeding.
It’s part of the same family of viruses as Ebola. Symptoms of Marburg Virus Disease The symptoms usually happ.