Marburg: The Completely Untreatable Virus

90 percent mortality rate. Maybe stay away from this one.

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[hightierplayers]

I remember reading "The Hot Zone" in 1994 and learning about this disease as well as others in the hemorrhagic fever category. Terrifying. All of them.

[JohnDrummondPhoto]

Bats are so susceptible to virus infection because they breathe differently from the other flying vertebrates, birds. Flight requires a lot of oxygen. The breathing system of birds (and fellow archosaurs such as crocodlians) allows a constant flow of fresh air through their lungs when they both inhale and exhale. Bats and other mammals, however, aren't so blessed. To make up for less oxygen absorption per breath, bats evolved an extremely high metabolism that makes the most use of every molecule of oxygen they intake.

As a downside, however, that high metabolism results in an extremely high level of oxidants in their systems. The oxidants cause cellular destruction that leaves them vulnerable to viruses. In turn, bats had to evolve a correspondingly powerful immune system to keep their constant viral infections from killing them. In other words, bats' ability to fly is near-fatal. They remain vulnerable to fungal infections like "white nose disease" that can wipe out whole colonies.

[cecuca]

Marburg: "Killing up to 88% of people"
Rabies: "You gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookies numbers"

[bosborn]

I did my final in AP biology on Marburg. Someone already picked Ebola, so I picked the next worse filo virus. I tried to plead my case that Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire were different enough for two separate research projects, but to no avail. The year was 1994 so pretty much no one had heard of Marburg.

[rheverend]

First responders during an epidemic of something so deadly deserve so much recognition for their bravery

[arifrost.x]

My thoughts on this
1. Stay away from bats and caves
2. We need needleproof gloves for scientist working with potentially deadly viruses.

[v.pareix]

I'm from Marburg and my grandma worked at the "Behring Werke" (the pharma complex where the outbreak took place) back then. She told me about people bleeding from their eyes when i was a kid. It's always kind of weird to hear the name of my little home town in that context.

[NyanCatHerder]

Not going to lie, I was expecting something a lot worse than "severe fines" for possession of select agents.

[Cedrikkkk]

As unbelievable as it may sound, the office room my dad is working in is actually the one from the first person that got infected with the Marburg virus. My grandma still recalls the hysteria in the city when it was made public shortly after. She compares it to the beginnings of Covid when everyone started to keep a distance from others and use face masks. Well, even this beautiful city has some very dark history.

[bellacapulet]

My mom worked at a bat sanctuary when I was a baby, she brought me to work with her for years. Her job also meant cleaning the poop and feeding the bats. Her boss asked her to bring me, saying it was safe. My mom didn't know better.
I as a toddler/kid used to play in the big bat rooms where they flew around freely.
It's a wonder we didn't get sick.

[benmcreynolds]

Imagine how scary a 90% mortality rate virus is..? That lady who survived it must of been so worried.. I'm glad she and some survive, even if very few..

[unchargedpickles]

This is one of the diseases that as a nurse, makes me shudder to imagine it breaking free and mutating to pass even more easily.

[kellyrickard]

The P.P.E being scary is an issue I've had to deal with before this pandemic. I had that when I had to care for a service user with suspected T.B. the service user's husband told me to remove my mask and shoe coverings or get out so I went to leave and he called me back. Everyday I went, the man and his wife complained about me wearing my P.P.E. Finally I was told it wasn't T.B just a chest infection. I really can't understand why wearing a mask was such an issue but then both service users refused to go into hospital. The husband also phoned my manager everyday to put in a complaint about me wearing my P.P.E and everyday my boss stuck up for me as I was the only carer who would go in with the suspected T.B case and without me they would have had to go into a care home or hospital. The husband also didn't want me wearing my gloves or apron. Even when I explained it was for his protection he said it was over dramatic

[duncanbrock]

I'm sitting here playing plague Inc and decided to see what has been posted in the Simonverse today and low and behold this.

[anotherrandomperson]

This terrified me when I researched it awhile back. God, hemorrhagic fevers are absolutely horrifying. I respect healthcare workers to the utmost.

[Cyric]

Suddenly, Ace Ventura's fear of bats becomes extremely rational.

[omegasage]

The hemorrhagic fevers scare the shit out of me. I mean...there's really nothing you can do but pray you never get it. With the current news of two cases in Ghana recently, it's brought these thoughts back to the forefront of my mind. I hope that we can prevent large outbreaks of these diseases

[writerinrwanda]

Hi from Rwanda. Just got an outbreak of this. Bats suspected. Thankfully we have a great medical response to virus outbreaks with regular testing and isolation wards, so hoping it'll remain under control.

[Seed]

Marburg - another lesson in not playing with dead monkey bodies.

[burquebandit]

Who would have thought monkey trappers are shady characters?