A MAJOR train station had to be closed after two passengers were suspected of carrying a highly contagious Ebola-like virus.
Passengers were evacuated from two platforms at Hamburg Central Station as emergency personnel, dressed in full protective gear, boarded a train arriving from Frankfurt.
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Authorities closed tracks 7 and 8 for several hours at the German station due to concerns over a potential outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus.
Two passengers on board were suspected of carrying the highly contagious “eye-bleeding disease”.
One of the passengers, a 26-year-old German medical student, and his girlfriend began experiencing flu-like symptoms during the train journey.
The man had recently returned to Germany from Rwanda, where he had contact with a patient later diagnosed with the Marburg virus.
While the severity of the situation remains unclear, fire department spokesperson, Christian Wolter, said that it is still uncertain whether the couple is infected with the virus.
Testing is currently underway to confirm the cause of their symptoms.
The incident has prompted heightened security measures and a response from the Federal Police to contain any potential threat.
Further updates are expected as investigations continue.
It comes as ten people have died during Rwanda’s first outbreak of the virus, which was confirmed on Wednesday by the nation’s health ministry.
What is Marburg virus?
Marburg is a filovirus like its more famous cousin, Ebola.
These are part of a broader group of viruses that can cause viral haemorrhagic fever, a syndrome of fever and bleeding.
Up to 90 per cent of those infected die.
The first outbreaks occurred in 1967 in lab workers in Germany and Yugoslavia who were working with African green monkeys imported from Uganda.
The virus was identified in a lab in Marburg, Germany.
Since then, outbreaks have occurred in a handful of countries in Africa, less frequently than Ebola.
Marburg’s natural host is a fruit bat, but it can also infect primates, pigs and other animals.
Human outbreaks start after a person has contact with an infected animal.
It’s spread between people mainly through direct contact, especially with bodily fluids, and it causes an illness like Ebola, with fever, headache and malaise, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, and aches and pains.
The bleeding follows about five days later, and it can be fatal in up to 90 per cent of people infected.
Marburg, which has a fatality rate of up to 88%, belongs to the same virus family as Ebola.
It is transmitted to people by fruit bats and then by contact with infected individuals’ bodily fluids.
Most of the recorded Marburg cases so far have involved healthcare staff treating infected patients in and around Kigali, the country’s capital.
Kigali is home to 1.2million people and has a well-connected airport, raising fears of international spread.
In a statement issued on Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorised the risk of spread to neighbouring countries as high.
It also suggested there is a risk of spread beyond East Africa, with reports of a suspected case in Belgium.
Marburg has already been flagged by the WHO as a ‘priority pathogen’ with pandemic potential.
The incubation period of a virus is the time between exposure to the virus and the onset of symptoms.
Previous outbreaks have seen around half of those infected die, though in places where health care is poor, that has risen to nearly 90 per cent.
Around 300 people who had contact with confirmed cases in Rwanda have been identified, with some placed in isolation facilities.
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