In the history of the German city of Marburg, one of the sad pages is 1967. It was then that some employees of a pharmaceutical company engaged in the production of many rare drugs were suddenly struck by an unknown disease.
She was accompanied by high fever, terrible headache, joint and muscle pain, vomiting and bloody diarrhea. But one more - and most terrible - symptom of the disease was numerous punctate bleeding observed in all internal organs.
In addition, blood was also secreted outward through ulcers on the mucous membranes and skin. At the same time, it absolutely did not coagulate, although, at the same time, the blood vessels were literally stuffed with flakes of coagulated blood. The bodies of the patients, according to eyewitnesses, turned into a sponge soaked in blood.
Marburg virus
Odd in this story, in addition to the symptoms of the disease, was the fact that almost all the victims were specialists in infectious diseases and were well versed in diseases of this type. In addition, they could take advantage of the most modern medicines of the time.
And yet, within a short time, seven people became victims of a strange disease, which, moreover, developed very quickly, destroying almost any body tissue: blood, muscles, brain, etc.
A strange disease was also reported in Frankfurt am Main, and even in Belgrade. Experts have a feeling that a new monstrous epidemic has broken out in Europe. But everything seemed to end well: the disease disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
Promotional video:
Research has shown that the cause of the disease is a rod-shaped virus of unknown nature. In the place where it was first discovered, the virus was named Marburg.
Its genome consists of a single RNA strand, which encodes information about the structure of seven proteins. And if most microorganisms enter the human body through mucous membranes or through parasites, for the new virus there were no specific routes of entry: it could be transmitted through the air, and through injections, and even through bodily contact. Any, even the most insignificant wound on human skin, as well as mucous surfaces, for example, the eyes, is an open door for penetration into the body.
The Marburg virus is very persistent. And this is due to the fact that its shell includes not only proteins, like most viruses, but also fat molecules. Moreover, the virus itself does not synthesize them, but uses those that are in the cell membrane. It is clear that after such a "robbery" the cell is completely destroyed. Therefore, the blood flowing from the micro-holes in the skin is almost devoid of red blood cells. And since there are no platelets in it, it does not fold …
Eight years have passed. And suddenly in 1975, the Marburg virus declared itself in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Congo. In July 1976, a veritable epidemic of Marburg disease broke out in the sparsely populated settlement of Nzara in southern Sudan. In the town of Maridi, where the first patients from Nzara were admitted to the hospital, one and a half hundred residents fell ill, most of whom (53%) could not be saved.
And in September of the same year, an even more terrible epidemic of a terrible disease broke out in Zaire. In a very short period of time, approximately 400 residents fell ill in 55 villages, 88% of whom died.
In the course of a thorough study of the diseases that broke out on the African continent in 1976, bacteriologists eventually combined them into one disease - Ebola. But the question - whether to attribute Marburg fever to this group or to consider it as a separate disease, is still open.
However, this is not the only and not the most important unresolved issue related to these diseases.
For example, scientists still do not know which natural populations of animals are the reservoir of viruses of these terrible diseases. At one time it was believed that monkeys were their carriers.
Indeed, almost always, when a source of primary infection was found, it turned out that it was a certain species of African monkeys. For this reason, scientists at one time began to be inclined to believe that these animals are the natural reservoir of the virus. But, nevertheless, even with very thorough examinations of the monkeys, the corresponding viruses were not found.
Currently, scientists have not abandoned the version that other animals are carriers of these viruses in natural conditions. In 2007, the Marburg virus was detected in specimens of Egyptian flying dogs, confirming the suspicion that the species may be a natural reservoir of the virus.
The answers to many other questions regarding these viruses are unknown. For example: what are the mechanisms that keep the virus circulating in these communities?
By what ways does it enter the monkey organism? Why do some strains of the virus infect the human body, while others, almost identical to them, are absolutely harmless to humans? Why do deadly fevers, breaking out for a short time in a limited area, never cover large areas?
However, perhaps the most burning question from this entire list: why did this virus show its killer qualities only in the second half of the 20th century?
After all, the symptoms of these fevers are clearly visible. And if epidemics of these diseases happened in Africa earlier, the inhabitants of the continent would probably remember them. And European doctors have been in Equatorial Africa for over a hundred years.
And, nevertheless, the study of the archives, as well as the study of blood and tissue samples taken from patients in different years, showed that before the early 1970s, African diseases of this kind were not observed.
Ebola virus
In other words, in Africa people started to get sick with fevers of this type only after they happened in Europe.
But where these viruses came from is still unknown. At one time, there was even a version that they are of artificial origin and are one of the types of biological weapons.
However, most virologists are rather skeptical about this version. After all, Marburg and Ebola are not the only hemorrhagic fevers that doctors had to meet in the last century. And the term "hemorrhagic fever" itself entered the medical lexicon in the 1940s.
And a number of diseases belonging to this group were described under different names even earlier. Besides, many of them are well studied.
And yet, the problem of the Marburg and Ebola viruses to this day remains "terra incognita" for biologists, physicians, and virologists.
