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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 27(6), 1978, pp. 1210-1215
Copyright © 1978 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Epidemiologic Investigation of Marburg Virus Disease, Southern Africa, 1975*

J. Lyle Conrad, Margaretha Isaacson, Eric Burnett Smith, Herta Wulff, Mike Crees, Piet Geldenhuys AND James Johnston
Field Services Division, Bureau of Epidemiology and Special Pathogens Branch, Virology Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, Department of Epidemiology, the South African Institute for Medical Research, P.O. Box 1038, Johannesburg, South Africa 2000, Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 8204, Causeway, Salisbury, Rhodesia, DeBeers Laboratory, Chiredzi, Rhodesia, and State Department of Health, Johannesburg, South Africa

During the first 10 days of February 1975, an Australian hitchhiker contracted Marburg virus disease while traveling through Rhodesia and died; the infection was subsequently passed to two other persons, who recovered. Investigators retraced the hitchhiker's steps in March and again in June 1975 in an effort to uncover the natural reservoir of the virus and determine how it was transmitted. Serum samples were collected from humans and animals wherever the patient had come in close contact with animals or insects. Arthropods of various types were collected in June 1975 and again in February 1976 for virus isolation attempts; at no time did the patient come in direct contact with nonhuman primates of any kind, or any other animals. Indirect contact with bats, monkeys, and birds through aerosols was possible, though at some distance. Direct contact with arthropods occurred throughout the trip; on several occasions it was notably severe. We believe that during this outbreak the first Marburg virus infection occurred by vector-borne transmission from an arthropod yet to be identified, and that patients 2 and 3 acquired the disease by exposure to the oropharyngeal secretions of patients 1 and 2, respectively. Studies are underway to identify the species of arthropod involved in this transmission.

Accepted for publication May 6, 1978.


* Address reprint requests to: Center for Disease Control, Attention: J. Lyle Conrad, M.D., Field Services Division, Bureau of Epidemiology, Atlanta, Georgia 30333.




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Copyright © 1978 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.