A virus with a 88% fatality rate

[taiwan_girl]

Hidden behind a waterfall in Mount Elgon National Park, the Kitum Cave is one of five named “elephant caves,” so-called because they are visited by pachyderms who “mine” the rock for its sodium-rich salts.

Sometimes, entire families visit, scraping the walls with their tusks and then eating the bits they dislodge. If this sounds like a scene from the Jungle Book, think again, because elephants aren’t the only animals in the Kitum Cave.

There are bats. Tens of thousands cling to the walls and ceiling of the cave, which stretches more than 200 metres into the mountain. Their droppings fall to the floor, creating a thick layer of pungent, ammonia-rich guano. That’s not the only danger, however.

In the 1980s, two visitors to the cave died after catching a virus carried by the cave’s Egyptian fruit bats. The virus doesn’t hurt the bats, but it causes internal bleeding when it infects people. This is known as Marburg virus disease, and it has a fatality rate of up to 88%.

There are currently no vaccines or antiviral treatments, so the cave is best left its elephant explorers, who are immune.

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/kitum-cave

[jon-nyc]

Oh joy.

[Axtremus]

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/marburg-virus-disease

The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks.

Incubation period between 2 and 21 days.
Death occurs most often between 8 and 9 days after symptom onset.
Highly contagious through direct contact with bodily fluids.
Becomes contagious only after symptoms appear.
Remains contagious after death.