5 Deadly Diseases that can hit South African Countries: Should carefully watch out

5. Marburg disease

What it is: Marburg disease falls in the same group of haemorrhagic viruses as Ebola. It’s a highly fatal disease which includes bleeding from the internal organs and bodily orifices. Marburg disease was first identified after two big outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and Serbia in 1967. Initial infections were caused by prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by the Rousettus bat colony.

How is it contracted? The Marburg disease is spread by fruit bats to humans and transmitted from human to human via bodily fluids.

Signs and symptoms: According to the WHO fact sheet, Marburg disease has an incubation period of two to 21 days. The symptoms start suddenly with a high fever and severe headache. Severe diarrhoea and vomiting also occur, as well as bleeding from the orifices and gastrointestinal tract.

When and where:  The most recent cases were reported by the WHO in Uganda in October 2017