Two people who flew from Rwanda to Hamburg tested negative after allegedly contracting the deadly Marburg virus.
The two men reportedly flew from Rwanda to Frankfurt am Main on Tuesday night before continuing by train to the northern city of Hamburg. One of them sought medical attention during the journey, fearing he might have contracted a disease in Rwanda.
However, the Hamburg Social Authority stated that their tests proved negative.
The negative test results and the absence of symptoms during the journey rule out any danger to third parties. The negative test confirms that no viruses were present. As a result, there was never any risk of infection with the Marburg virus for either the flight or train passengers.
The Marburg virus belongs to the same family as Ebola and is first transmitted from bats or monkeys to humans and can then be passed from human to human. It causes severe haemorrhagic fever, with symptoms including muscle aches, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and bloody vomiting. According to the WHO, previous outbreaks of the virus had mortality rates ranging from 24 per cent to 88 per cent.
Rwanda declared an outbreak of the virus in late September. As of 1 October, about 36 cases have been reported, of which 11 have died and 25 are being treated in isolation, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.
The news caused concern due to the speed of diagnosis, as it could take up to 21 days before symptoms emerged. Experts fear that there could be more cases, raising concerns about the potential risk of a pandemic.
Unlike flu or coronaviruses, the Marburg virus is not airborne. Infection occurs through contact with bodily fluids of infected people and contaminated surfaces and materials. The incubation period ranges from two to 21 days, with no target treatment or vaccine currently available.
The first known outbreak occurred in 1967 in Marburg, Germany, when 29 laboratory workers became infected from monkeys used in experiments, seven of whom died.
