Serosurvey on Household Contacts of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Patients

Abstract

Asymptomatic secondary infections are rare.

Use of Protective Gear and the Occurrence of Occupational Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever in Health Workers from Watsa Health Zone, Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…We found serological evidence for past MARV infection in 1 HW, who reported only mild fever after the putative exposure. This is consistent with earlier findings that mild or asymptomatic MHF cases are rare [6]. Interestingly, this HW had a previous negative IgG test result 18 days after the putative exposure; the mildness of her disease and the delayed detectable IgG response may both have been due to a small infectious dose.…”

“…These 2/56 ϫ 100 p 3. 6 4/47 ϫ 100 p 8.5 differences were not statistically significant, suggesting that the frequency of occupational MHF remained, at best, unchanged by the introduction of barrier nursing.…”

“…Most patients with MHF were known through surveillance initiated in May 1999 and our own investigations [6]. We targeted HWs who had had a professional contact with a patient with MHF or with his or her body fluids.…”

“…We estimated the frequency of occupational MHF, using as the denominator the duration of the outbreak (7 vs. 16 months), the number of all patients with MHF in the zone (80 vs. 77 patients [1,2,6]), or the number of patients with MHF seeking health care (56 vs. 47 patients [M.B., unpublished data]), before and after the introduction of barrier nursing. Because most cases of MHF before the introduction of barrier nursing were ascertained retrospectively, the denominators included suspected cases.…”

The AIRSAN Project - Efficient, coherent EU level response to public health threats in air transport

“…Symptomatic index case: Marburg cases are not considered to be infectious until they become symptomatic (42). Therefore a trace-back should only be initiated if the index patient was symptomatic during the flight.…”