Outbreak of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever in Angola: A Review of the History of the Disease and its Biological Aspects

Transmission of a dangerous infectious disease threatens not merely a local population but the world at large as the result of immigration and increased and faster travel. Any outbreak elicits considerable concern and demands that various precautionary methods be instituted and that the disease be contained as quickly as possible. Recently, an old disease, one that may have been present for centuries and was identified decades ago, reared its ugly head, killing more than 200 people before it was contained. Fortunately, the disease, Marburg hemorrhagic fever, was limited to a small geographic area, but the devastation of lives was much greater than that of many epidemics and was a warning of the numerous factors, including fear, lack of understanding, and deception, that can exacerbate the spread of disease and hinder implementation of restraints. This article reviews the history of the disease caused by Marburg virus and its biological components.