marburg virus
sa smith | July 6, 2010This sounds like a science-fiction novel, but the following is totally true:
In 1967, a group of folks in Marburg Germany doing research with African Grivets, all got sick. Apparently they picked up a new virus from the grivets, and 7 of the 31 infected people died of hemorrhagic fever.
This Marburg virus (close relative of Ebola virus) caused a few more small outbreaks in Africa the next few decades, but it was eventually capitalized on by the Soviet Union for use as a bioweapon. Ironically, the individual in charge of this, Nikolai Ustinov, accidentally stuck himself with the virus, and…
grrlscientist | August 22, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, Egyptian Rousette, Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus, Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus, Uganda, zoonoses, pathogen
Portrait of an Egyptian Rousette or Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus.
Image: Wikipedia
Like something out of a sci-fi novel, a man from Uganda died a horrible, bloody death from Marburg hemorrhagic fever this past July. As a result, scientists from the USA and the African nation of Gabon raced to the area to search for the source of this disease, and they may have finally discovered it. The team tested…