Experimental Vaccine Rolled Out in Rwanda to Treat Marburg VIRUS

🔥 Ground Zero - Ebola, Measles, Polio, Tetanus, Marburg? 🔥
😢😢😢 ዋይ! ዋይ! ዋይ! 😠😠😠

►“There is no approved treatment or vaccine for MVD; however, several pharmaceuticals and candidate MVD vaccines are under investigation.”

► Rwanda's Marburg outbreak is under control, Africa's health chief says.
The head of Africa’s top public health agency says that an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg fever in Rwanda is under control and that travel bans to the East African country are unnecessary

👉 There is no approved treatment or vaccine for MVD; however, AFRICA is our ViralVaxLab

► Suggested citation: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Implications of the Marburg virus disease outbreak in Rwanda for the EU/EEA, 2024 – 10 October 2024. ECDC: Stockholm; 2024.

THREAT ASSESSMENT BRIEF

Summary

This threat assessment addresses the implications of the ongoing Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in Rwanda for the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA). MVD is a severe disease in humans and, although uncommon, it has the potential to cause epidemics with significant case fatality. All recorded MVD outbreaks to date have originated in Africa. MVD is not an airborne disease and is considered not to be contagious before symptoms appear. Direct contact with the blood and other body fluids of infected people and animals or indirect contact with contaminated surfaces and materials like clothing, bedding and medical equipment is required for transmission. The risk of infection is minimised when proper infection prevention and control precautions are strictly followed. There is no approved treatment or vaccine for MVD; however, several pharmaceuticals and candidate MVD vaccines are under investigation.

Epidemiological situation

Marburg virus disease (MVD), formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe disease in humans caused by Marburg marburgvirus (MARV). Although MVD is uncommon, MARV has the potential to cause epidemics
with significant case fatality. All recorded MVD outbreaks have originated in Africa. MVD is not an airborne disease and is considered not to be contagious before symptoms appear. Direct contact with the blood and other body fluids of infected people and animals or indirect contact with contaminated surfaces and materials like clothing, bedding and medical equipment is required for MARV transmission. For more information on the symptoms and clinical picture of MVD please refer to ECDC’s ‘Factsheet for health professionals about Marburg virus disease’ .

On 27 September 2024, Rwanda reported that a number of MVD cases had been reported in the country. The first confirmed cases were detected when patients in teaching hospitals were not responding to treatment and they were
further tested. The first cases detected were linked to the presumed index case who died in early September 2024 . As of 9 October 2024, 58 cases, including 13 deaths and 12 recoveries, have been reported.

Based on limited information available for 36 cases reported as of 2 October 2024, they had been reported from eight of Rwanda’s 30 districts. The majority of cases were in healthcare workers (80%) and belong to the same
cluster in linked healthcare facilities in Kigali.

On 5 October 2024, the Sabin Vaccine Institute provided 700 doses of the investigational vaccine against Marburg virus (MARV) to Rwanda. The candidate vaccine is based on replication deficient chimpanzee adenovirus type 3 (cAd3), expressing MARV surface glycoprotein (GP). On 6 October 2024, vaccinations for healthcare workers in Kigali started as part of a Phase 2 rapid response open-label study .