In early February and late March of this year, separate outbreaks of Marburg virus were declared in Equatorial Guinea and in the United Republic of Tanzania. For several months, news of these outbreaks and other sporadic cases made headlines globally, as public health officials watched the number of cases and suspected cases climb, calling to mind previous outbreaks of Marburg virus’s relative, the deadly Ebola virus. Fortunately, the WHO declared both outbreaks over in early June, but the threat of this hemorrhagic virus remains. In this episode (recorded in April 2023) we explore why the biology Marburg virus makes it such a deadly pathogen, what its evolutionary history and the history of its discovery can tell us about the changing landscape of pathogen spillover, and how the recent outbreaks reveal how much we still don’t know about this virus. Tune in for everything you ever wanted to know about Marburg virus and more.
| History | Biology |
| Baker, Rachel E., et al. “Infectious disease in an era of global change.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 20.4 (2022): 193-205. | Brauburger, K., Hume, A.J., Mühlberger, E. and Olejnik, J., 2012. Forty-five years of Marburg virus research. Viruses, 4(10), pp.1878-1927. |
| Bausch, Daniel G., and Marguerite M. Clougherty. “Ebola virus: sensationalism, science, and human rights.” The Journal of infectious diseases 212.suppl_2 (2015): S79-S83. | Abir, M.H., Rahman, T., Das, A., Etu, S.N., Nafiz, I.H., Rakib, A., Mitra, S., Emran, T.B., Dhama, K., Islam, A. and Siyadatpanah, A., 2022. Pathogenicity and virulence of Marburg virus. Virulence, 13(1), pp.609-633. |
| Bausch, Daniel G., et al. “Marburg hemorrhagic fever associated with multiple genetic lineages of virus.” New England Journal of Medicine 355.9 (2006): 909-919. | Bauer, M.P., Timen, A., Vossen, A.C. and van Dissel, J.T., 2019. Marburg haemorrhagic fever in returning travellers: an overview aimed at clinicians. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 21, pp.e28-e31. |
| Brauburger, Kristina, et al. “Forty-five years of Marburg virus research.” Viruses 4.10 (2012): 1878-1927. | Bente, D., Gren, J., Strong, J.E. and Feldmann, H., 2009. Disease modeling for Ebola and Marburg viruses. Disease models & mechanisms, 2(1-2), pp.12-17. |
| Emanuel, Jackson, Andrea Marzi, and Heinz Feldmann. “Filoviruses: ecology, molecular biology, and evolution.” Advances in virus research 100 (2018): 189-221. | Suschak, J.J. and Schmaljohn, C.S., 2019. Vaccines against Ebola virus and Marburg virus: recent advances and promising candidates. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 15(10), pp.2359-2377. |
| Siegert, R., W. Schlenczka GA Martini, and R. Siegert. “Marburg virus disease.” (1971). | Pigott, D.M., Golding, N., Mylne, A., Huang, Z., Weiss, D.J., Brady, O.J., Kraemer, M.U. and Hay, S.I., 2015. Mapping the zoonotic niche of Marburg virus disease in Africa. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 109(6), pp.366-378. |
| Jones, Kate E., et al. “Global trends in emerging infectious diseases.” Nature 451.7181 (2008): 990-993. | Nakayama, E. and Saijo, M., 2013. Animal models for Ebola and Marburg virus infections. Frontiers in microbiology, 4, p.267. |
| Ristanović, Elizabeta S., et al. “A forgotten episode of Marburg virus disease: Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1967.” Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 84.2 (2020): e00095-19. | World Health Organization: Disease Outbreak News. https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news |
| Slenczka, Werner. “Filovirus research: how it began.” Marburg-and Ebolaviruses: From Ecosystems to Molecules (2017): 3-21. | Nolen, Stephanie. April 3, 2023 “New Marburg outbreaks in Africa raise alarm about the deadly virus’s spread” NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/health/marburg-outbreak-vaccine-treatment.html |
| Suzuki, Yoshiyuki, and Takashi Gojobori. “The origin and evolution of Ebola and Marburg viruses.” Molecular Biology and Evolution 14.8 (1997): 800-806. | Krause and Longini 2023 – A phase 1/2/3 randomized trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccine candidates against Marburg disease. WHO. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/blue-print/phil-krause_ira-longini_session-3_trial-protocol_marvac-consultation_10-march-2023.pdf?sfvrsn=6c6d3294_4 |
| Taylor, Derek J., Robert W. Leach, and Jeremy Bruenn. “Filoviruses are ancient and integrated into mammalian genomes.” BMC evolutionary biology 10.1 (2010): 1-10. | |
| Towner, Jonathan S., et al. “Marburgvirus genomics and association with a large hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Angola.” Journal of virology 80.13 (2006): 6497-6516. | |
| Zehender, Gianguglielmo, et al. “Distribution of Marburg virus in Africa: An evolutionary approach.” Infection, Genetics and Evolution 44 (2016): 8-16. |
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!
