Ebola virus and marburg virus infections

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Marburg and Ebola virus infections cause bleeding and organ malfunction. These infections often result in death.

Marburg and Ebola infections are spread through handling live or dead infected animals or by contact with skin or body fluids of an infected person who has symptoms or who has died.
Symptoms begin with a fever, muscle and body aches, headache, cough, and a sore throat, followed by vomiting and diarrhea as well as bleeding from the mouth, nose, or internal organs.
To confirm the diagnosis, doctors do blood and urine tests.
Strict isolation and sanitary precautions (and, for health care practitioners, use of protective clothing) are needed to prevent spread of the infection.
Treatment includes giving fluids by vein and other treatments to maintain body functions.

Marburg and Ebola virus infections are hemorrhagic fevers, characterized by bleeding. They are caused by viruses called filoviruses. (Other viruses can cause other hemorrhagic fevers.)
Outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg virus infections started in Central and West Africa, probably because the infections are common in wild animals there. Such outbreaks are rare and, in the past, have not spread very far because they typically occurred in isolated, rural areas. However, travelers from those areas sometimes carry the infection to nearby areas or, rarely, outside of Africa.
In December 2013, a large Ebola virus outbreak began in rural Guinea (West Africa), then spread to densely populated urban regions in Guinea and to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. It was first recognized in March 2014. Ebola outbreaks involved thousands of people, and about 59% of infected people died. A very small number of infected travelers (including health care workers returning home) have spread Ebola virus to Europe and North America. A few health care workers who helped treat the infected people in Europe and North America also acquired the infection. Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia were declared free of Ebola in 2016.
An outbreak of Ebola also occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017 but was quickly contained. However, another outbreak there was confirmed in May 2018 and is ongoing.