| This
has been a bizarre story to stay abreast of. Originally the outbreak was reported by a
South African news agency as a confirmed incidence of Marburg. So far, we can't
find a reliable medical source which can confirm that this is the case. With the confirmed cases of Ebola referred to
elsewhere on this site, in the Watsa region of Congo, and along the Tanzanian border, and
with a tendency emerging to identify any haemorragic fever outbreak as being one or the
other, we're just going to summarize wht we know for certain, and that is that several
deaths have occurred in Zimbabwe which appear to be from a disease which presents the
symptoms of haemorragic fever.
There is much misinformation
about Marburg in the popular press, and, most certainly, in popular fiction and film.
Marburg, though invariably fatal, is considerably less virulent than Ebola, and is usually
transmitted by insect bites. It is highly unlikely to cause a major loss of life, although
we track it because there appear to be Marburg mutations developing which most
certainly could cause a catastrophic killdown. This isn't one of them.
This incident, be it Marburg or
not, appears to be consistent with a 'normal' outbreak of haemorragic fever.
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