A New Threat Before the COVID-19 Crisis is Over With a Maximum Fatality Rate of 88%! The day the Marburg Virus Hits Japan

A deadly disease is once again threatening to plunge mankind into a pandemic. This is Marburg disease, which has caused a string of deaths in Africa since the beginning of this year. Kunio Yano, Special Advisor for Infectious Disease Control at Hamamatsu Medical Center, explains.

“Marburg disease is a truly frightening disease. It is an infectious disease caused by the Marburg virus, which causes a hemorrhagic disease very similar to Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The incubation period is very short, only a few days, and the maximum fatality rate is 88%. At this time, there is no cure or effective vaccine. And there are too few clinical trials because infected people die so quickly.”

The deadly virus, which uses bats as hosts, was discovered in Marburg, central Germany, in 1967. It is highly contagious, with the initial symptoms of fever, excruciating headache, and recurrent severe vomiting. Watery diarrhea followed by jaundice and bleeding symptoms, and most infected patients died of multiple organ failure within eight days of onset. The disease is also known as “the ghost disease” because of the extreme malaise that deprives the face of facial expression.

“Marburg disease spreads among humans through direct contact with the blood and body fluids of infected individuals.” In 2005, a devastating outbreak killed more than 350 people in Angola in southern Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in March of this year that 27 people died in Equatorial Guinea and five in Tanzania. It is possible that the disease could rage again,” said a reporter from the international section of a national newspaper.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Warns

Regarding the global spread of the disease, the WHO noted, “We cannot rule out (the possibility of) the spread of the disease. The WHO is quite alarmed,” said Masahiro Kami, president of the Institute for Healthcare Governance.

The WHO is quite alarmed. The WHO is very cautious,” said Masahiro Kami, president of the Institute of Health Care Governance. Even if infected, there is only symptomatic treatment.

Japan is no stranger to the virus. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno sounded the alarm at a press conference on February 15.

The Marburg disease is classified as a Category 1 infectious disease under Japan’s Infectious Disease Control Law. Although there have been no confirmed cases in Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has issued an alert to quarantine stations, local governments, and medical organizations regarding the outbreak.

Class 1 infectious diseases are dangerous diseases that can seriously affect the lives of citizens, with those infected being advised to be hospitalized. Kentaro Iwata, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Kobe University Hospital, said, “We are in close contact with Africa, and we have a lot of immigrants.”

Europeans must be concerned because of their close ties with Africa and the large number of immigrants there. There is no guarantee that the Marburg virus will not be introduced into Japan. Globalization is progressing.

Now that the number of travelers from abroad is rapidly recovering, it is not surprising that the Marburg virus could hit Japan at any time. Before the new coronavirus comes to an end, the human race is about to be exposed to the threat of a new infectious disease.

From the April 21/28, 2023 issue of FRIDAY