Marburg Fever in Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, and Rwanda: Global Crisis in Public Health Service or Standard Situation?

Marburg virus disease (MVD) doesn’t pose any epidemiological risks for the Russian Federation, but it can be used for the purposes of biological warfare and global information manipulations.
Relevance. Nowadays the WHO may proclaim a new killer that could trigger a deadly global epidemic soon (instead of COVID-19). The newcomer is the MVD. The outbreaks of this disease in Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania and Rwanda in 2023–2024 have become quite a plausible pretext for such a proclamation.
Purpose of the study is to make an impartial assessment of MVD epidemic capabilities. Source base of the study. Articles, retrieved from full-text academic periodicals, written in English and available on the Internet.
Materials and methods. The analytical method. The suggestions of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) have been employed. The author has analyzed 50 reviews.
Discussion. The paper summarizes data on history and scale of MVD outbreaks, dwells on taxonomical, biological, ecological and epidemiological properties of Marburg virus (MARV). From 1967 to the end of October 2024 have been registered 692 MVD cases with the mortality rate of 81.2%. The MVD outbreaks emerge in unprotected dry regions of East, South and Central Africa. They are separate and long-term cases. These cases haven’t provoked complex epidemic chains, comparable to spreading of viruses that trigger influenza or COVID-19 pandemics. The MVD pathogenesis is based on the overreaction of the immune system phagocytes on MARV multiplication. For people it results in shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation, different necroses and antibody-dependent enhancement of infection. Despite the fact that all parts of human immune system are targeted at MARV, the vaccines are developed in such a way that human immune system is supposed to work against virus. The treatment is pathogenic and symptomatic one.
Conclusions. The fact that MARV has emerged in Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania and Rwanda doesn’t mean that a global crisis has come. However, the nature of this disease is still quite known and provokes misunderstandings. The pathogenesis of this disease indicates that it is worth looking for the MARV primary focus among one-celled organisms in caves, where the bats are infected. We suppose that the infection hinders, because there is a system of innate cellular sensors that induce mRNA virus disintegration in cytoplasm. The immune system activation has nothing to do with it. It is unlikely that we will obtain a vaccine someday. The most efficient tools to stop MVD are surveillance, quarantines and observation periods for the infected and persons who stayed in touch with them. People also should follow particular safety rules.

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