Brits heading abroad have been sent an urgent travel warning over a horror ‘eye bleeding’ disease that has spread to more than 17 countries.
Officials are spooked by rising cases of the Marburg virus which belongs to the Ebola family and is one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered.
The deadly virus has already reportedly killed 15 people in Rwanda this autumn with hundreds being monitored for suspected infection.
An outbreak in Rwanda was confirmed in late September 2024.
Affected countries include Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama and Peru.
It comes as another two serious infectious diseases – the mpox Clade I variant and tropical Oropouche fever – continue to spread across a number of countries.
And now an alert has been issued by Travel Health Pro, a website commissioned by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), to warn Brits of the “triple threat” of lethal viruses making.
A spokesperson for Travel Health Pro said: “A Marburg virus disease outbreak has been reported in Rwanda.
“Multi-country outbreaks of mpox clade I and Oropouche are also ongoing.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of up to 88 percent, meaning it can kill nearly 9 in 10 people it infects.
The largest outbreak on record to date occurred in 2005 in Angola and involved 374 cases, including 329 deaths.
Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats after “prolonged exposure” to mines or caves inhabited by the flying mammals.
The virus can spread through human-to-human transmission via direct contact through bodily fluids, as well as interaction with infected materials and surfaces.
Marburg virus symptoms
Symptoms of the disease can appear abruptly, with high fever, severe headache, and muscle aches and pains being common.
From the fifth day onwards patients may start bleeding from their nose, gums, eyes and vagina.
Other common symptoms include watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain, bleeding from different sites including under the skin, feeling sick and being sick.
Progressive symptoms can include a ash, jaundice, swelling and pain in the stomach, severe weight loss, inflammation of the pancreas, liver failure and multi-organ dysfunction.
Symptoms usually appear 2 to 21 days after exposure to the virus.