Risk Factors for Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF) is a severe illness caused by Marburg virus, a member of the Filoviridae family. MHF was first described in 1967 during outbreaks in Germany and the former Yugoslavia that were linked to monkeys imported from Uganda. Since then, only a few sporadic cases in East Africa and southern Africa and one laboratory infection have been identified. Serosurveys for Marburg antibodies in the general population generally have shown prevalences of <2%, indicating it to be a rare and highly lethal disease.

The largest outbreak of MHF recorded to date began in late 1998 in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Although the remoteness of the area and the civil war in eastern DRC delayed access and evaluation, in May 1999 a team of international investigators identified 73 cases...


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