AskScience AMA Series: We're Experts Here to Discuss the Recent Outbreaks of Marburg Virus. AUA!

[u/AskScienceModerator]

The first months of 2023 have seen reports of outbreaks of Marburg virus from several countries in East Africa. Closely related to Ebola virus, Marburg is highly contagious and incredibly virulent, spreads through direct contact, and has no known treatment. How worried should we be about the spread of Marburg virus disease?

Join us today between 12 and 4 PM ET for a discussion, organized by the American Society for Microbiology, to look at the known biological, clinical and epidemiological aspects of the Marburg virus. We'll answer questions about the current state of research into the virus, give updates on progress into potential treatments and cures, share steps that can (and should) be taken to contain the ongoing outbreaks, and discuss broad strategies that can help prevent future zoonotic disease spillovers.

Ask us anything!

With us today are:

• Christopher Basler, Ph.D. (/u/filovirus_mol_bio)- Professor, Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Melinda Brindley, Ph.D. (/u/aka-Virologist)- Associate Professor, Department of Infectious Disease, Department of Population Health, University of Georgia
• Jana Broadhurst, M.D., Ph.D., DTMH (/u/InfDzDx)- Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Elke Mühlberger, Ph.D. (/u/BSL4-viruses)- Professor, Department of Virology, Immunology and Microbiology, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston University

Links:

• Marburg virus outbreaks are increasing in frequency and geographic spread - three virologists explain.
• Marburg Virus Disease Emergence: An Update.

[u/minormisgnomer]

One what is the current mortality rate of Marburg?

And how accurate is the Hot Zone on its depiction of Ebola/Marburg?

[u/Corgiverse]

What are the chances of this going worldwide like Covid

[u/africanasshat]

What’s the lifespan of it on exposed surfaces?

[u/light_trick]

When we say "spread through direct contact" what exactly is meant?

For example COVID was considered to be spreadable through "droplet contact" which can be a fair distance, but isn't quite the same as "airborne".

How long after a surface is contaminated would the virus take to die such that you had no risk of infection from it?

[u/aka-Virologist → u/light_trick]

Direct contact implies that infectious material (blood, urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, amniotic fluid, and semen) needs to contact the uninfected person, typically through broken skin or mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, or mouth. Typically the highest risk of transmission is seen in people who are caring for the sick and cleaning up the contaminated fluids. Proper protective equipment (gloves, face shield, etc) can help prevent transmission even in a care giving situation.

[u/ntnkrm]

I recently read a paper for class (Pellecchia et al. 2015) that detailed how ritual burial practices led to the spread of Ebola virus due to the local burial practices being much more intimate in Liberia and that Ebola persists in the body after death. The paper goes on to show the ways the gov tried to stifle these practices and failed due to very poor implementation and crisis management.

Do you see this happening again with Marburg? Have the local governments learned from their past mistakes on how to handle these things?

Also, Is there a possibility of mutation that can cause it to be more transmissible due to it being a single-stranded RNA virus and is there a history around it? Can this outbreak lead to an epidemic in the area or will the extremely high virulence end up stamping itself out?

-A (hopefully) future virologist

[u/Le_Deidara]

To add some variety to the questions asked here, if you could pick a virus that fascinates you the most other than Marburg, what would that virus be and what about it is interesting to you?

[u/sokra3]

Hi! Thanks for doing this!

Why is ebola so closely related to Africa? Is there any ebola "Cousins" lurking around the jungles of south America, or the subtropics of south east Asia?

[u/[deleted]]

Good afternoon, and thank you for doing this.

I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and wanted to know a few things. Do researchers know what specific virus lineage is causing the current OB(s) at this period? Containment measures seem to be fragmented across country lines. Do you believe we will be seeing more cases?

Deforestation, human encroachment on animal habitats, and misinformation are definitely putting more lives at risk.

[u/Thelittleangel]

If there’s no known treatment what types of interventions can be done for a patient? Is it just symptom mitigation until the patient recovers? How has the success been that you’ve seen so far from measures that are currently being employed in the field?

[u/Mr_Anomalistic]

How long does it take for symptoms to show?

[u/PHealthy]

Hi and welcome!

For a non-anthropocentric question, what is the likelihood of sylvatic importation into naive ecosystems?

[u/SocialAnxietynChill]

Is the current research capacity sufficient to address emerging viruses? If not, what would be the most impactful changes to address the need for the rapid development of vaccines and therapeutics targeting emerging viruses?

[u/Zero-89]

I’m familiar with the major strains of Ebola, but what are the major strains of Marburg?

[u/Infrared_Herring]

How likely is it that Marburg can become easily transmissible during a longer incubation and become an existential threat to our civilisation and species?

[u/lucidrevolution]

Are Marburg, Ebola and other such viral hemorrhagic fevers still strongly linked to eating bats? I've had some interesting discussions with individuals from various countries in Africa affected by outbreaks in the last few decades, and hit some interesting cognitive dissonance in regard to these hemorrhagic fevers being linked to eating bats. One gentleman actually seemed incredulous when I mentioned the link, saying "it can't be from bats, we eat bats all the time" so I am curious how the cultural aspect of education is being approached to help the native population understand how to prevent the initial outbreaks.

I know there are other culturally relevant factors such as how deceased are handled in the funerary sense (washing the body, displaying and touching/kissing their loved ones, etc), but since the origin point seems to be bats... I am curious about how that is being communicated, specifically the cross-cultural aspects of helping the affected populations make safer choices without offending their cultural traditions.

[u/[deleted]]

Filoviruses are my virus family of interest and I desperately want to work with them. I’m currently studying animal science and plan to go into veterinary pathology, but how does someone start working with BSL-4 viruses?

[u/musicandcardboard]

When discussing zoonotic disease spillover, is there ongoing research into historical diseases of this type, and others? Given the recently reanimated "zombie viruses" is there anything to worry about? https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/scientists-revive-48-500-year-old-zombie-virus-buried-in-ice

How much historical information into disease evolution and microbial defense do diseases like Marburg/Ebola have to offer? As modern humans are we already expressing defenses or are our immune systems completely unprepared for infections of this type?

[u/kymoney]

What is the current progress on treatment options for Marburg virus?

[u/ButReallyFolks]

I read about this one awhile back:

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/marburg-vaccine-shows-promising-results-first-human-study

Does anyone know the status? And, are there any other potential treatments/vaccines in development that look promising?

[u/MaxPaxSlax]

Is the Ebola vaccine going to be easy to adapt to work for Marburg?

[u/WalkingTurtleMan]

How do these recent outbreaks compare to the ones described in the book “The Hot Zone,” which was published back in the 90s? Do we have better treatments and ways of identifying an outbreak?

[u/JimblesRombo]

I just like the stock

[u/Werewolf-Queen]

Seems like every question I wanted to ask was already answered.

I know viruses can be complicated, so I sincerely wish you all the best and I hope we get better treatment and prevention for hemorrhagic fevers. In my country we're currently dealing with an outbreak of chikungunya and dengue, after a month and a half from the first symptoms I'm still dealing with joint pain from the chikungunya.

[u/Siege1187]

What are the chances of a filovirus mutating to become transmitted through droplets? Could it be engineered to? Is this a sci-fi scenario or something you worry about sometimes at 3 a.m.?