Tag Archives: filovirus

Marburg virus, like its fellow filovirus Ebola virus, causes severe hemorrhagic fever with mortality rates reaching 90%. The Ebola virus outbreak currently sweeping western Africa has a mortality rate of 55–60%, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are no approved treatments for viral hemorrhagic fever in humans; most infected individualsContinueContinue reading “Interfering with filovrirus replication”

Marburg virus, like other filoviruses, causes hemorrhagic fever and has a fatality rate as high as 90%. Filoviruses are normally transmitted between individuals by blood or body fluids but are also infectious in aerosol form, which means they pose the risk of becoming a global health threat as well as being used as agents ofContinueContinue reading “Small molecule, big advance against Marburg virus”

Infection by filoviruses (Ebola virus and Marburg virus) causes lethal hemorrhagic fever with fatality rates as high as 90%. There are no approved treatments or prophylactics for these viral infections, and concern about their potential for accidental outbreaks or use as biological weapons is great. Research led by Gene Olinger at the US Army MedicalContinueContinue reading “First steps toward a filovirus treatment”

Outbreaks of Ebola virus infection are associated with hemorrhagic fever and high mortality rates. There are currently no preventive or protective treatments for Ebola infections, although some progress has been made in vaccine development. Development of strategies for managing infection once a person has been exposed to the virus has been much slower. One researchContinueContinue reading “New protection against Ebola virus”

Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg viruses) are highly infectious pathogens that cause hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. Their mortality rates approach 90% in humans. There are currently no approved vaccines against filoviruses. New research presented at the 2008 American Society for Microbiology’s Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting in Baltimore, MD, shows that aContinueContinue reading “New vaccine against filoviruses”