At least 99 people have been quarantined in four different locations in Uganda so far after State House Uganda confirmed a man died this week of the Marburg virus—a type of hemorrhagic fever that's strikingly similar to Ebola, CNN reports. Many of the individuals now in isolation are health workers, as the deceased was a radiographer in a Kampala hospital and another health center and had contact with multiple colleagues. So far 11 of the quarantined have tested negative for Marburg, though they may be retested in a few days if the symptoms they've developed don't disappear. And those symptoms might sound familiar if you've been following the Ebola situation: Both viruses are members of the Filovirus family and manifest in similar ways, including fever, severe headache, and major bleeding, the Washington Post reports.
Although many of the outbreaks recorded since Marburg was IDed in 1967 have been single cases, the fatality rate ranges from 23% to 90% (if you discount those single-case years), the CDC notes. Perhaps to mitigate increasing concern over Ebola after Thomas Duncan's death in Texas this week, CDC Director Thomas Frieden has been talking up efforts the CDC has undertaken in Uganda and emphasized that no further Marburg cases have been documented. "That may not make headlines, but it does give us confidence that we can control Ebola in West Africa," he says, per CNN. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's prime minister, seems to share Frieden's optimism, posting a series of tweets this week that indicate the country's success rate and experience in dealing with hemorrhagic fevers. (More Ebola stories.)
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