Ebola-like virus returns to Europe after 40 years

July 25, 2008 | Source: New Scientist news service

Marburg, a deadly hemorrhagic fever closely related to Ebola, is back in Europe, after a 40 year absence.

On July 11, a 40-year old Dutch woman died in a quarantined ward of a hospital in Leiden, the Netherlands, less than two weeks after she returned from Uganda.

The first human cases in Germany killed a quarter of those infected, while recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola have killed 80 to 90% of those infected. There is no cure, and patients often die of hemorrhaging and massive organ failure.