Here’s what you need to know

Experts are sounding alarm bells after a deadly virus outbreak in Africa.

The Marburg virus has already claimed the lives of nine people in Equatorial Guinea as of Tuesday, prompting the World Health Organization to summon an emergency meeting to control the spread and prevent infection. So far, there are at least 16 suspected cases.

The fatality ratio of the Marburg virus, which is “in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola,” ranges from 24% to 88% depending on case severity, according to WHO.

Formally known as Marburg virus disease, the virus is a severe hemorrhagic fever, but is incredibly rare, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The first human cases were identified in 1967 in laboratory outbreaks in Marburg, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia. At the time, seven people died. An Angola outbreak in 2004 claimed the lives of 90% of the 252 confirmed infections, according to reports.

In 2022, two people died as a result of the Marburg virus in Ghana due to an outbreak in a family.

John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, emphasized the importance of nipping infections in the bud to prevent further spread, per Nature.

“I cannot emphasize enough the need for speed,” he said at the WHO meeting Tuesday.

While experts were unsure exactly how the virus was first contracted by humans, the people in 1967 who fell ill were researching green monkeys from Uganda at the time.

According to the WHO, infections were believed to result from “prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bat colonies,” due to the virus’ origins in fruit bats.

After the first human cases, clinicians now know that the virus transmits from person to person through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or objects, which are contaminated with infected bodily fluids via broken skin or mucus membranes. It is not believed to be airborne.

The CDC also believes that transmission can occur from contact with infected male semen, but research on the virus is extremely limited. According to WHO, burial ceremonies for those who did not survive the disease could even perpetuate the spread.

The incubation period of the virus can range from two to 12 days, but primary symptoms are fever, chills headache and myalgia or muscle aches. After the fifth day of symptoms, patients often break out in a rash most likely on their chest, back or stomach.

Additionally, infected people may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chest pain, sore throat and abdominal pain. Severe symptoms include jaundice, pancreas inflammation, weight loss, shock, liver failure, delirium, hemorrhaging and multi-organ dysfunction, per the CDC.

Because of the similarities between the Marburg virus and other illnesses, it can be difficult to diagnose. There is currently no standardized treatment nor a vaccine for the virus, but the WHO assured that rehydration therapy with fluids can help those infected survive.

“Marburg is highly infectious,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, previously said. “Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible.”

The WHO is currently working to contract trace individuals who may have been exposed.

People who are at risk of exposure to the virus include those who have close contact African fruit bats, infected non-human primates or people who are sick with Marburg virus disease, per the CDC. It is not believed to have traveled to other continents such as North America.