First U.S. case of Marburg fever treated in Denver
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/08/2009 12:30:00 AM MSTWHEAT RIDGE — Exempla Lutheran Medical Center treated a patient in January 2008 who was sick with the nation’s first case of Marburg fever.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has informed the hospital it has confirmed that a patient who got sick during a trip to Uganda had the tropical disease.
Marburg, a relative of Ebola, one of the deadliest known diseases has came to America in the first known filovirus infection to arrive here. Ebola and Marburg are filoviruses and they are noted for their gruesome symptoms of bleeding and vomiting blood. To make matters worse, the mortality rate is from 23 to 90 percent for Marburg, while Ebola has a mortality rate of 50 to 90 percent and kills within 5 to 9 days. Horrible diseases that they are.
Marburg was first known in 1967 in an outbreak in Marburg, Germany, which later spreaded to Belgrade, Yugoslavia. It infected 31 people and killed 7 of them. The origin of Marburg and Ebola is a mystery, but likely bats are the carrier of Marburg and Ebola.
