Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever in Angola — Fighting Fear and a Lethal Pathogen

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Abstract
On March 21, 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta confirmed the presence of Marburg virus in 9 of 12 patient samples of tissue and blood sent for analysis by health authorities in Angola. The samples came from a growing number of patients, almost all of them linked to a single pediatric ward in the main hospital in Uige Province, who were rapidly dying from an unknown disease with hemorrhagic manifestations. The identity of the causative agent came as a surprise: Marburg hemorrhagic fever is an exceedingly rare disease, and there had never been a case before in Angola. Diagnostic confirmation set in motion a large-scale international response that began the day after the CDC's finding. Both the features of Marburg hemorrhagic fever and the conditions in Angola have made this response an extreme test of the national and international capacity to hold a dangerous emerging disease at bay.

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